Meta-Crisis
Who_Daily Link: < a href="http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/311148.html">Meta-Crisis by < lj user=persiflage_1> (Characters: Martha, Ten, Human-Ten, Donna, Jack, Rose, Jackie, Mickey, Sarah Jane | Rating: PG-13 | Spoilers: 4.13)
Title: Meta-Crisis
Author: Persiflage_1
Characters/Pairings: Martha, Ten, Human-Ten, Donna, Jack, Rose, Jackie, Mickey, Sarah Jane
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Journey's End
Summary: As the TARDIS drags the Earth back home, Dr Jones is on call.
Disclaimer: I occasionally wish that I did own it!
Author Notes: I was thinking about something in unslinky's current DW fic, Degeneration, and an AU Journey's End plot bunny came a-wandering by...
Betas: the lovely abstruse_fangrl and catholicphoton
~~~~~~
"Right then. You, you and you, come with me, please," said Martha, pointing at the Doctor, his 'twin', and then Donna in turn.
The three of them shared a mystified look, then Handy, as Donna had affectionately nicknamed the Doctor's twin, asked, "Where are we going?"
"Medical Bay," answered the young doctor promptly, giving them an expectant look.
The trio shared another glance, then followed Martha out of the crowded Control Room and along the corridors to the Med Bay.
"First things first," said Martha, her hands on her hips as she eyed them. "Where did you suddenly acquire a twin from, Doctor, and why is Donna suddenly talking technobabble at breakneck speed?"
"Ah," said Handy and the Doctor simultaneously, both of them looking a little sheepish as they each rubbed the back of their neck.
"Well, Spaceman, over there, got shot by a Dalek - " began Donna.
"What?" interrupted Martha, horrified. "Why haven't you regenerated? And just how did you get yourself shot by a Dalek in the first place?"
"Oh, that was Rose's fault," explained Handy.
Martha threw up her hands in disbelief. "Have you three gone completely mad?" she demanded.
"No, no, it's all quite simple," the Doctor said reassuringly.
"Not to me, it's not," retorted the young medic.
The Doctor pulled Martha over to sit on one of the examination beds, joining her, while Handy and Donna sat on the opposite one, then he began to explain with interruptions from the other two, all three of them finishing each other's sentences in a rather unnerving manner, Martha felt.
"So, let's see if I've got this straight," she said, when they'd finished. "You - " She pointed at the Time Lord beside her, "are still wholly Time Lord and grew a clone from your hand. And I thought growing a new hand was weird enough! You - " She pointed at Donna, "are fully human, apart from having the Doctor's mind in your head, and you - " She pointed at Handy, "are a human/Time Lord hybrid."
The Doctor and Handy shared a manic grin, both pleased that their favourite doctor had grasped it so quickly. "Yep!" they said.
"Right. But, here's the thing I don't understand. How can Donna have a Time Lord mind inside her human head? You’ve told me many times, Doctor, that Time Lord brains are wired differently, and that you have considerably more senses than mere humans. Surely Donna's head isn't designed to hold a Time Lord mind? That's like trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot - it's not going to fit, and something will have to give."
"Oh!" exclaimed the Doctor, his expression indicating he hadn't given that much thought. "Blimey, Martha! You're good!" He slid off the bed and began to pace.
Donna looked slightly alarmed. "What's going on?"
Handy slid an arm around her shoulders. "It's okay, don't panic," he said softly.
"No, it's not," the redhead snapped. "I'm not stupid, you know! Got your mind in my head, remember? Martha's saying my head won't cope with that."
"No, it won't," agreed the Time Lord, breaking off his pacing to move in front of his other companion. "But it's okay, 'cos we can fix it."
"How?" asked Martha.
"The Chameleon Arch." He gave her a pained smile.
"Oh!" the young doctor said softly.
"Come on, Donna." The Time Lord offered the older woman his hand and she took it.
"This is going to hurt, isn't it?" she said, frowning.
"Yeah, it is," he agreed casually, "but better a bit of pain now, than a complete meta-crisis breakdown that leaves you dead."
"Oh, yeah," agreed Donna, looking slightly shocked.
Handy slid an arm around Martha's shoulders as they followed the Time Lord and his companion back through the corridors. "I'm proud of you," he said softly.
She raised an eyebrow interrogatively. "Why?"
"Because you always keep your cool in a crisis, and you don't let this Time Lord stuff faze you." He gently pulled her to a stop, allowing the others to get ahead of them. "He probably won't ever tell you this," Handy said, nodding after the Time Lord, "but I can. He's always cared about you more deeply than he was willing to tell you. He was too scared of being hurt again to admit it, but don't blame him for that, okay? The Time War messed him up really badly, and the battle at Canary Wharf, where Rose got sucked into the other universe, that just compounded matters. If you'd seen him the day Donna met him, he'd probably have terrified you nearly as much as he terrified her."
"Why are you telling me this?" asked Martha softly.
"Because he'll need your help again soon, and it won't be easy for you or him, so you need to understand that he cares for you deeply, and that he needs you, and has always needed you, far more than you need him."
She shook her head slightly, puzzled by his comments. "I'll always help the Doctor, he - and you - should know that by now."
"Oh, he does," agreed Handy, "and of course, I do too. But what he'll need from you next will be unlike anything you've ever given him before." Before she could ask him to explain, he grabbed her hand and tugged at it, hurrying her after the Time Lord and Donna.
"Right then!" exclaimed the Doctor as they all entered the Control Room. "Rose, Mickey, do you wanna show Jackie around for a bit? Jack, Sarah Jane, would you mind rustling up some refreshments?"
The others in the Control Room exchanged puzzled looks.
"What's going on?" asked Jack.
"We need to perform a procedure for Donna," the Doctor said, "and the equipment's in here. You could all stay and watch, but it's a painful procedure, and I'm not sure you'd appreciate listening to Donna screaming."
"God no!" exclaimed Rose, looking disgusted. "C'mon." She stalked out, leaving Mickey and Jackie to exchange a look.
"See you later, babe," Mickey said to Donna.
"Don't you hurt her too much," Jackie warned the Doctor, wagging a finger in front of his face with a fierce expression.
"I promise," the Time Lord answered blandly.
Jack and Sarah Jane both gave the redhead a hug before they followed the others out of the Control Room.
"Molto bene!" exclaimed the Time Lord, bounding over to the console and flicking some switches.
Martha, Handy and Donna all watched, Donna in the middle, as the Chameleon Arch swung down from the ceiling.
"Handy, could - " the Doctor paused. "You need a better name, than that," he muttered to his twin. "Could you give me a hand, please?"
The human walked over and the two men pored over the console, talking in quiet voices as Martha and Donna sat on the captain's chair and waited.
"Good job you're here," the redhead told the young medic. "If it'd been left up to those skinny boys in suits, I doubt they'd have thought about it until it was nearly too late."
"I'm a bit worried about the fact that the Doctor didn't regenerate," Martha confessed. "I didn't think Time Lords could do what he did, and I've a feeling it'll have consequences."
"It will, yeah," Donna agreed. "He'll need to rebalance his energy levels soon, or his body'll go into a complete cellular degeneration, which'll lead to death."
The younger woman gaped at her, shocked. "What can we do?" she asked.
Donna rubbed the back of her neck, a familiar gesture of the Doctor's that looked slightly odd when she did it. "Well, there is a way to quickly rebalance the energy levels."
"What's that?" asked Martha.
Before the older woman could elaborate, the Doctor approached, a serious expression on his face. "It's time, Donna."
"What do you want me to do?" asked Martha.
He gave her a smile. "Nothing, for the minute, thank you. Just be on standby, in case, but I'm not expecting anything to go wrong," he said hastily, looking back at Donna, who was fitting the Chameleon Arch onto her head with help of Handy.
"I believe you, Spaceman," she answered, smirking at him.
Martha grinned at her, knowing that she enjoyed teasing the Doctor by calling him 'Spaceman', 'Martian Boy', and any other odd epithets that sprang to mind, and understanding that the Doctor enjoyed it too, even if he did occasionally mutter a protest.
"You do know I'll be entitled to call you similar names once we've done this?" the Time Lord asked, as he crossed back to the console.
"Whatever," Donna answered, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly, which made Martha giggle.
She watched as the Doctor activated the Chameleon Arch, then cringed when Donna screamed in agony. Handy moved to stand beside the young medic, holding her hand for mutual comfort as they waited for the Arch to finish re-writing Donna's DNA. They rushed forward together to catch the redhead when she sagged as the process was completed.
"Handy, can you get the wheelchair from the Med Bay, please?" asked Martha, as she helped Donna over to the captain's chair with the Doctor's assistance.
He gave a quick nod, then hurried away.
"How are you feeling?" Martha asked the redhead as she slipped her fingers over the pulse point in Donna's wrist.
"Molto bene," she rasped, sounding exhausted.
"Oi!" Martha chided gently. "Don't you start lying to me, too."
The older woman opened her eyes and gave Martha a tired smile. "I'll be all right, after a nap," she assured the young medic.
"I want to do a couple of quick tests, first," Martha warned, "but after that you can sleep as long as you like."
"Mmm, good."
The younger woman shook her head, then moved aside to let the Doctor and his twin move Donna into the wheelchair.
After running a few tests, Martha pronounced her patient "as well as can be expected", and recommended at least a few hours sleep.
"I'll see that she goes to bed," Handy said, giving the Doctor a pointed look, then glancing over at Martha, and to the young woman's surprise the Doctor blushed, looking away from his twin with an embarrassed expression.
She washed her hands, then gave the Time Lord a thoughtful look. "Donna was saying something before about you needing to rebalance your energies," she observed. "She seemed to think you'd die otherwise, and she said you'd need my help."
The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. "She's right," he agreed.
"So what can I do?"
"Come with me," he answered, holding out his hand.
She frowned, then shrugged, and allowed him to take her hand to lead her through the corridors until they eventually reached a pale blue door that Martha couldn't remember seeing before. The Doctor opened it, then gestured for her to go inside first.
She stepped through the doorway, then gulped slightly as she realised that they were in his bedroom - somewhere she'd never been before. "What's going on?" she asked, feeling a nervous flutter in her stomach.
He stepped into the room after her, then closed the door, before moving close enough for her to feel his breath on her face. "The quickest and safest way to renew the balance of my energies is through the sexual act," he told her, his tone so matter of fact that it took her a moment to process what he'd said.
"What?" she gasped. "You're asking me to shag you?"
He frowned slightly. "Yes, to help me to heal."
"As chat up lines go, that's one of the most original I've heard," she said, "but have you forgotten that I'm engaged?"
He pulled a face. "No, I haven't."
"So why are you asking me? You must know Jack or Rose would jump at the chance."
"Because I want you, Dr Martha Jones, not Jack or Rose, or anyone else. Just you."
Before Martha could respond, he gently clasped her face and ducked his head to kiss her on the mouth. She raised her hands to hold his wrists and he wondered if she was going to push him away, but she didn't, so he deepened the kiss, remembering that day on the Moon, so long ago when she'd captured his hearts without him even noticing.
When he released her mouth, she sagged against him and he smirked a little, then backed up towards the bed, leading her with him. There was a question in his eyes and she knew he was waiting for permission to continue.
With a mental promise to talk to Tom once this was over, she nodded, then stretched up to kiss him on the mouth, her tongue swiping across his lips.
The Doctor whispered a 'thank you', then began to undress her, his fingertips and mouth moving lightly across her skin as he bared it. Then he picked her up and put her on the bed, before quickly undressing himself and joining her on the bed.
Within a few minutes Martha was gasping on the bed, her hips rising to meet his thrusts as he urgently drove into her; there was an expression of fierce tenderness in his eyes, which she found oddly moving. Her orgasm came quickly, and the Doctor's was not far behind, and she tried not to feel sorry that it was over so soon.
Then there was a knock on the door.
Martha gave the Doctor a panicked look, but he ducked his head and kissed her quick and hard. "It's okay," he told her. "It's only Handy."
The door opened and closed quickly, then Martha found herself looking up into the face of the Doctor's twin and saw a look of longing in his eyes.
"Sorry to interrupt," he said quietly. "Jack's sitting with Donna, and the others are in the kitchen drinking tea and eating cake."
"Thanks." The Doctor looked down into Martha's face, then jerked his head at his twin. "Mind if he joins us?" he asked.
She gave them both a wide-eyed look. "Both of you," she whispered.
"Only if you want to," Handy said quickly.
She giggled. "In for a penny, in for a pound."
The Doctor rolled off Martha and she sat up, beckoning his twin closer, then proceeded to undress him at speed. The Doctor watched, amused, as she pulled Handy's head down to kiss him, her free hand stroking his arousal, then she pulled him down onto the bed beside her.
"Mmm, Martha sandwich," Handy said, pressing his body tightly against hers.
The Doctor chuckled, then shifted closer so the diminutive young woman was properly sandwiched between them. She couldn't help moaning when she realised that the Time Lord was growing hard again.
"Didn't tell me," she gasped, as Handy's mouth moved along her jaw line, then down onto her throat, "that you had such a short refractory period."
The Doctor nuzzled the side of her neck. "It didn't come up."
Handy choked back a laugh. "Liar," he murmured.
"What do you mean?" asked Martha.
"Ignore him," the Doctor instructed, "he's just making bad puns."
She laughed, suddenly realising what Handy meant. "Ooh, when did it come up?"
"Oi!" protested the Time Lord. "Behave!"
"Or what?" asked Martha with a giggle.
Handy laughed at the Doctor's face as he realised that he didn't know what to threaten Martha with. "Never mind that," he said, "I want to enjoy my Martha sandwich."
She scowled at him, but he wriggled against her, then kissed her, and she quickly forgot to be annoyed.
A very enjoyable half hour later, they lay sprawled across the Doctor's bed. "We'll be getting back to Earth's proper place soon," the Time Lord said. He looked over at his twin. "What are you going to do? Do you want to come travelling with me and Donna?"
Handy looked pensive. "I think I'd quite like to try life on Earth for a bit," he answered. He gave Martha a considering look. "Reckon UNIT would employ me?"
She snorted. "Colonel Mace would probably fall on your neck," she answered.
"Would you mind working with me?" he asked.
"Don't be daft!" she exclaimed. "Of course I wouldn't mind. It'd be as good as having the Doctor on the payroll."
"That's settled then," the Doctor said. "I'll give you some money, Handy. And you really will have to think of a proper name for yourself."
"You could call yourself Andy," Martha suggested, grinning, "then we can nickname you Handy Andy, and shorten it to Handy."
"Martha!" protested the Doctor, but he was laughing.
His twin put an arm around her and pulled her closer. "Minx!" he said.
She grinned, then leaned forward to kiss him quick and hard. "We'd better get dressed, hadn't we? Before someone comes looking for us."
"We had," agreed the Doctor.
* * * * * *
Five minutes later they made their way back to the Control Room, and only a short while after that the others appeared: Jack and Donna were both hiding grins, and Martha wondered if Donna had told Jack about the Doctor's 'cure'; Rose was arguing with her mother and Mickey, and Sarah Jane looked as if she was ready to leave. In fact, she was the first out of the doors once the TARDIS had materialised on Earth, telling the Doctor she had to get back to her son, Luke. Martha, Jack and Handy made their farewells, and Mickey ran to catch them up, allowing Jack to sling his free arm around his shoulders (his other arm being around Martha's shoulders, while Handy held her hand).
"The Doctor's taking Rose and Jackie back to Pete's World," Handy said.
Martha winced. "I can't imagine Rose'll like that much."
"No," Mickey agreed. "She was hoping to stay on the TARDIS with the Doctor and you."
"Me?" asked Handy.
"Yeah. She reckoned the Doctor would let her, since he didn't regenerate."
Jack looked puzzled. "I'm not sure I follow her logic," he observed.
"Me either," Mickey answered. "I think Jackie was upset that I wasn't going back with them, but she understood why I preferred to come back here."
"You gonna come and work for me, Mickey Mouse?" asked Jack.
"Only if you don't try and shag me," Mickey answered, with a laugh.
The Captain rolled his eyes. "I'll do my best."
"What are you gonna do, Handy?" asked Mickey.
"I'm going to see if UNIT will give me a job," the Doctor's twin answered. "Martha thinks they'll be glad of my knowledge and expertise."
"If they're not, you can come and work under me," Jack suggested, leering.
"Under being the operative word, I suppose?" retorted Handy.
Martha giggled.
"You're very quiet Dr Jones," Jack observed, giving her shoulders a squeeze. "What secrets are you hiding?"
"None," Martha asserted, her face a picture of innocence.
The three men snorted with laughter, and she glared at them in mock offence until Handy stopped walking and pulled her into a lengthy kiss, which drew hoots from Mickey and Jack, and had various passersby looking around in puzzlement.
"Oh you!" Martha gasped, swatting him on the arm when he finally released her.
He chuckled, then grabbed her hand and swung their arms backwards and forwards, like a small child.
"You'd better not do that at UNIT HQ," she observed, "or you will end up working with Jack."
"Oh no! Spare me!" cried Handy in mock horror.
The others laughed. They reached the entrance to the park, and Jack hailed a taxi to take him and Mickey to the station for a train down to Cardiff. The two men promised to be in touch with Martha and Handy soon, then piled into the taxi.
"And where are we going, Dr Jones?" asked the Doctor's twin as they set off in the opposite direction on foot.
"Tube back to my flat," she answered. "I know you've nowhere else to stay."
"Sounds good."
He gave her a goofy grin, and she couldn't help grinning back, even as she knew that she would have to ring Tom tomorrow and have a long talk with her fiancé. She didn't know how things would turn out between herself and Handy, but she knew that she wanted a chance to find out; the fact that she'd had sex with the Doctor (and Handy) so readily told her that she wasn't really ready to marry Tom, no matter how much she'd told herself that she was.
"Thank you for letting me come with you," Handy said. "I was afraid you wouldn't want me around after the way the Doctor treated you."
Martha raised an eyebrow. "You're not him," she said. "Yes, you look like him, and you've got a lot of his knowledge, experience and memories in your head, but you're a different person - there's Donna in you, too. It wouldn't be fair to judge you solely on the fact that the Doctor hurt me - besides, he and I have moved past that now."
She led him down the steps into the Underground station, flourished her Oyster card at the ticket machine to register their journey, then dragged him onto the platform.
"Welcome to your new life, Mr Smith," Martha said, grinning as the Tube train pulled in.
"Thank you, Dr Jones." He grinned back and they stepped aboard.
Title: Meta-Crisis
Author: Persiflage_1
Characters/Pairings: Martha, Ten, Human-Ten, Donna, Jack, Rose, Jackie, Mickey, Sarah Jane
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Journey's End
Summary: As the TARDIS drags the Earth back home, Dr Jones is on call.
Disclaimer: I occasionally wish that I did own it!
Author Notes: I was thinking about something in unslinky's current DW fic, Degeneration, and an AU Journey's End plot bunny came a-wandering by...
Betas: the lovely abstruse_fangrl and catholicphoton
~~~~~~
"Right then. You, you and you, come with me, please," said Martha, pointing at the Doctor, his 'twin', and then Donna in turn.
The three of them shared a mystified look, then Handy, as Donna had affectionately nicknamed the Doctor's twin, asked, "Where are we going?"
"Medical Bay," answered the young doctor promptly, giving them an expectant look.
The trio shared another glance, then followed Martha out of the crowded Control Room and along the corridors to the Med Bay.
"First things first," said Martha, her hands on her hips as she eyed them. "Where did you suddenly acquire a twin from, Doctor, and why is Donna suddenly talking technobabble at breakneck speed?"
"Ah," said Handy and the Doctor simultaneously, both of them looking a little sheepish as they each rubbed the back of their neck.
"Well, Spaceman, over there, got shot by a Dalek - " began Donna.
"What?" interrupted Martha, horrified. "Why haven't you regenerated? And just how did you get yourself shot by a Dalek in the first place?"
"Oh, that was Rose's fault," explained Handy.
Martha threw up her hands in disbelief. "Have you three gone completely mad?" she demanded.
"No, no, it's all quite simple," the Doctor said reassuringly.
"Not to me, it's not," retorted the young medic.
The Doctor pulled Martha over to sit on one of the examination beds, joining her, while Handy and Donna sat on the opposite one, then he began to explain with interruptions from the other two, all three of them finishing each other's sentences in a rather unnerving manner, Martha felt.
"So, let's see if I've got this straight," she said, when they'd finished. "You - " She pointed at the Time Lord beside her, "are still wholly Time Lord and grew a clone from your hand. And I thought growing a new hand was weird enough! You - " She pointed at Donna, "are fully human, apart from having the Doctor's mind in your head, and you - " She pointed at Handy, "are a human/Time Lord hybrid."
The Doctor and Handy shared a manic grin, both pleased that their favourite doctor had grasped it so quickly. "Yep!" they said.
"Right. But, here's the thing I don't understand. How can Donna have a Time Lord mind inside her human head? You’ve told me many times, Doctor, that Time Lord brains are wired differently, and that you have considerably more senses than mere humans. Surely Donna's head isn't designed to hold a Time Lord mind? That's like trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot - it's not going to fit, and something will have to give."
"Oh!" exclaimed the Doctor, his expression indicating he hadn't given that much thought. "Blimey, Martha! You're good!" He slid off the bed and began to pace.
Donna looked slightly alarmed. "What's going on?"
Handy slid an arm around her shoulders. "It's okay, don't panic," he said softly.
"No, it's not," the redhead snapped. "I'm not stupid, you know! Got your mind in my head, remember? Martha's saying my head won't cope with that."
"No, it won't," agreed the Time Lord, breaking off his pacing to move in front of his other companion. "But it's okay, 'cos we can fix it."
"How?" asked Martha.
"The Chameleon Arch." He gave her a pained smile.
"Oh!" the young doctor said softly.
"Come on, Donna." The Time Lord offered the older woman his hand and she took it.
"This is going to hurt, isn't it?" she said, frowning.
"Yeah, it is," he agreed casually, "but better a bit of pain now, than a complete meta-crisis breakdown that leaves you dead."
"Oh, yeah," agreed Donna, looking slightly shocked.
Handy slid an arm around Martha's shoulders as they followed the Time Lord and his companion back through the corridors. "I'm proud of you," he said softly.
She raised an eyebrow interrogatively. "Why?"
"Because you always keep your cool in a crisis, and you don't let this Time Lord stuff faze you." He gently pulled her to a stop, allowing the others to get ahead of them. "He probably won't ever tell you this," Handy said, nodding after the Time Lord, "but I can. He's always cared about you more deeply than he was willing to tell you. He was too scared of being hurt again to admit it, but don't blame him for that, okay? The Time War messed him up really badly, and the battle at Canary Wharf, where Rose got sucked into the other universe, that just compounded matters. If you'd seen him the day Donna met him, he'd probably have terrified you nearly as much as he terrified her."
"Why are you telling me this?" asked Martha softly.
"Because he'll need your help again soon, and it won't be easy for you or him, so you need to understand that he cares for you deeply, and that he needs you, and has always needed you, far more than you need him."
She shook her head slightly, puzzled by his comments. "I'll always help the Doctor, he - and you - should know that by now."
"Oh, he does," agreed Handy, "and of course, I do too. But what he'll need from you next will be unlike anything you've ever given him before." Before she could ask him to explain, he grabbed her hand and tugged at it, hurrying her after the Time Lord and Donna.
"Right then!" exclaimed the Doctor as they all entered the Control Room. "Rose, Mickey, do you wanna show Jackie around for a bit? Jack, Sarah Jane, would you mind rustling up some refreshments?"
The others in the Control Room exchanged puzzled looks.
"What's going on?" asked Jack.
"We need to perform a procedure for Donna," the Doctor said, "and the equipment's in here. You could all stay and watch, but it's a painful procedure, and I'm not sure you'd appreciate listening to Donna screaming."
"God no!" exclaimed Rose, looking disgusted. "C'mon." She stalked out, leaving Mickey and Jackie to exchange a look.
"See you later, babe," Mickey said to Donna.
"Don't you hurt her too much," Jackie warned the Doctor, wagging a finger in front of his face with a fierce expression.
"I promise," the Time Lord answered blandly.
Jack and Sarah Jane both gave the redhead a hug before they followed the others out of the Control Room.
"Molto bene!" exclaimed the Time Lord, bounding over to the console and flicking some switches.
Martha, Handy and Donna all watched, Donna in the middle, as the Chameleon Arch swung down from the ceiling.
"Handy, could - " the Doctor paused. "You need a better name, than that," he muttered to his twin. "Could you give me a hand, please?"
The human walked over and the two men pored over the console, talking in quiet voices as Martha and Donna sat on the captain's chair and waited.
"Good job you're here," the redhead told the young medic. "If it'd been left up to those skinny boys in suits, I doubt they'd have thought about it until it was nearly too late."
"I'm a bit worried about the fact that the Doctor didn't regenerate," Martha confessed. "I didn't think Time Lords could do what he did, and I've a feeling it'll have consequences."
"It will, yeah," Donna agreed. "He'll need to rebalance his energy levels soon, or his body'll go into a complete cellular degeneration, which'll lead to death."
The younger woman gaped at her, shocked. "What can we do?" she asked.
Donna rubbed the back of her neck, a familiar gesture of the Doctor's that looked slightly odd when she did it. "Well, there is a way to quickly rebalance the energy levels."
"What's that?" asked Martha.
Before the older woman could elaborate, the Doctor approached, a serious expression on his face. "It's time, Donna."
"What do you want me to do?" asked Martha.
He gave her a smile. "Nothing, for the minute, thank you. Just be on standby, in case, but I'm not expecting anything to go wrong," he said hastily, looking back at Donna, who was fitting the Chameleon Arch onto her head with help of Handy.
"I believe you, Spaceman," she answered, smirking at him.
Martha grinned at her, knowing that she enjoyed teasing the Doctor by calling him 'Spaceman', 'Martian Boy', and any other odd epithets that sprang to mind, and understanding that the Doctor enjoyed it too, even if he did occasionally mutter a protest.
"You do know I'll be entitled to call you similar names once we've done this?" the Time Lord asked, as he crossed back to the console.
"Whatever," Donna answered, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly, which made Martha giggle.
She watched as the Doctor activated the Chameleon Arch, then cringed when Donna screamed in agony. Handy moved to stand beside the young medic, holding her hand for mutual comfort as they waited for the Arch to finish re-writing Donna's DNA. They rushed forward together to catch the redhead when she sagged as the process was completed.
"Handy, can you get the wheelchair from the Med Bay, please?" asked Martha, as she helped Donna over to the captain's chair with the Doctor's assistance.
He gave a quick nod, then hurried away.
"How are you feeling?" Martha asked the redhead as she slipped her fingers over the pulse point in Donna's wrist.
"Molto bene," she rasped, sounding exhausted.
"Oi!" Martha chided gently. "Don't you start lying to me, too."
The older woman opened her eyes and gave Martha a tired smile. "I'll be all right, after a nap," she assured the young medic.
"I want to do a couple of quick tests, first," Martha warned, "but after that you can sleep as long as you like."
"Mmm, good."
The younger woman shook her head, then moved aside to let the Doctor and his twin move Donna into the wheelchair.
After running a few tests, Martha pronounced her patient "as well as can be expected", and recommended at least a few hours sleep.
"I'll see that she goes to bed," Handy said, giving the Doctor a pointed look, then glancing over at Martha, and to the young woman's surprise the Doctor blushed, looking away from his twin with an embarrassed expression.
She washed her hands, then gave the Time Lord a thoughtful look. "Donna was saying something before about you needing to rebalance your energies," she observed. "She seemed to think you'd die otherwise, and she said you'd need my help."
The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. "She's right," he agreed.
"So what can I do?"
"Come with me," he answered, holding out his hand.
She frowned, then shrugged, and allowed him to take her hand to lead her through the corridors until they eventually reached a pale blue door that Martha couldn't remember seeing before. The Doctor opened it, then gestured for her to go inside first.
She stepped through the doorway, then gulped slightly as she realised that they were in his bedroom - somewhere she'd never been before. "What's going on?" she asked, feeling a nervous flutter in her stomach.
He stepped into the room after her, then closed the door, before moving close enough for her to feel his breath on her face. "The quickest and safest way to renew the balance of my energies is through the sexual act," he told her, his tone so matter of fact that it took her a moment to process what he'd said.
"What?" she gasped. "You're asking me to shag you?"
He frowned slightly. "Yes, to help me to heal."
"As chat up lines go, that's one of the most original I've heard," she said, "but have you forgotten that I'm engaged?"
He pulled a face. "No, I haven't."
"So why are you asking me? You must know Jack or Rose would jump at the chance."
"Because I want you, Dr Martha Jones, not Jack or Rose, or anyone else. Just you."
Before Martha could respond, he gently clasped her face and ducked his head to kiss her on the mouth. She raised her hands to hold his wrists and he wondered if she was going to push him away, but she didn't, so he deepened the kiss, remembering that day on the Moon, so long ago when she'd captured his hearts without him even noticing.
When he released her mouth, she sagged against him and he smirked a little, then backed up towards the bed, leading her with him. There was a question in his eyes and she knew he was waiting for permission to continue.
With a mental promise to talk to Tom once this was over, she nodded, then stretched up to kiss him on the mouth, her tongue swiping across his lips.
The Doctor whispered a 'thank you', then began to undress her, his fingertips and mouth moving lightly across her skin as he bared it. Then he picked her up and put her on the bed, before quickly undressing himself and joining her on the bed.
Within a few minutes Martha was gasping on the bed, her hips rising to meet his thrusts as he urgently drove into her; there was an expression of fierce tenderness in his eyes, which she found oddly moving. Her orgasm came quickly, and the Doctor's was not far behind, and she tried not to feel sorry that it was over so soon.
Then there was a knock on the door.
Martha gave the Doctor a panicked look, but he ducked his head and kissed her quick and hard. "It's okay," he told her. "It's only Handy."
The door opened and closed quickly, then Martha found herself looking up into the face of the Doctor's twin and saw a look of longing in his eyes.
"Sorry to interrupt," he said quietly. "Jack's sitting with Donna, and the others are in the kitchen drinking tea and eating cake."
"Thanks." The Doctor looked down into Martha's face, then jerked his head at his twin. "Mind if he joins us?" he asked.
She gave them both a wide-eyed look. "Both of you," she whispered.
"Only if you want to," Handy said quickly.
She giggled. "In for a penny, in for a pound."
The Doctor rolled off Martha and she sat up, beckoning his twin closer, then proceeded to undress him at speed. The Doctor watched, amused, as she pulled Handy's head down to kiss him, her free hand stroking his arousal, then she pulled him down onto the bed beside her.
"Mmm, Martha sandwich," Handy said, pressing his body tightly against hers.
The Doctor chuckled, then shifted closer so the diminutive young woman was properly sandwiched between them. She couldn't help moaning when she realised that the Time Lord was growing hard again.
"Didn't tell me," she gasped, as Handy's mouth moved along her jaw line, then down onto her throat, "that you had such a short refractory period."
The Doctor nuzzled the side of her neck. "It didn't come up."
Handy choked back a laugh. "Liar," he murmured.
"What do you mean?" asked Martha.
"Ignore him," the Doctor instructed, "he's just making bad puns."
She laughed, suddenly realising what Handy meant. "Ooh, when did it come up?"
"Oi!" protested the Time Lord. "Behave!"
"Or what?" asked Martha with a giggle.
Handy laughed at the Doctor's face as he realised that he didn't know what to threaten Martha with. "Never mind that," he said, "I want to enjoy my Martha sandwich."
She scowled at him, but he wriggled against her, then kissed her, and she quickly forgot to be annoyed.
A very enjoyable half hour later, they lay sprawled across the Doctor's bed. "We'll be getting back to Earth's proper place soon," the Time Lord said. He looked over at his twin. "What are you going to do? Do you want to come travelling with me and Donna?"
Handy looked pensive. "I think I'd quite like to try life on Earth for a bit," he answered. He gave Martha a considering look. "Reckon UNIT would employ me?"
She snorted. "Colonel Mace would probably fall on your neck," she answered.
"Would you mind working with me?" he asked.
"Don't be daft!" she exclaimed. "Of course I wouldn't mind. It'd be as good as having the Doctor on the payroll."
"That's settled then," the Doctor said. "I'll give you some money, Handy. And you really will have to think of a proper name for yourself."
"You could call yourself Andy," Martha suggested, grinning, "then we can nickname you Handy Andy, and shorten it to Handy."
"Martha!" protested the Doctor, but he was laughing.
His twin put an arm around her and pulled her closer. "Minx!" he said.
She grinned, then leaned forward to kiss him quick and hard. "We'd better get dressed, hadn't we? Before someone comes looking for us."
"We had," agreed the Doctor.
* * * * * *
Five minutes later they made their way back to the Control Room, and only a short while after that the others appeared: Jack and Donna were both hiding grins, and Martha wondered if Donna had told Jack about the Doctor's 'cure'; Rose was arguing with her mother and Mickey, and Sarah Jane looked as if she was ready to leave. In fact, she was the first out of the doors once the TARDIS had materialised on Earth, telling the Doctor she had to get back to her son, Luke. Martha, Jack and Handy made their farewells, and Mickey ran to catch them up, allowing Jack to sling his free arm around his shoulders (his other arm being around Martha's shoulders, while Handy held her hand).
"The Doctor's taking Rose and Jackie back to Pete's World," Handy said.
Martha winced. "I can't imagine Rose'll like that much."
"No," Mickey agreed. "She was hoping to stay on the TARDIS with the Doctor and you."
"Me?" asked Handy.
"Yeah. She reckoned the Doctor would let her, since he didn't regenerate."
Jack looked puzzled. "I'm not sure I follow her logic," he observed.
"Me either," Mickey answered. "I think Jackie was upset that I wasn't going back with them, but she understood why I preferred to come back here."
"You gonna come and work for me, Mickey Mouse?" asked Jack.
"Only if you don't try and shag me," Mickey answered, with a laugh.
The Captain rolled his eyes. "I'll do my best."
"What are you gonna do, Handy?" asked Mickey.
"I'm going to see if UNIT will give me a job," the Doctor's twin answered. "Martha thinks they'll be glad of my knowledge and expertise."
"If they're not, you can come and work under me," Jack suggested, leering.
"Under being the operative word, I suppose?" retorted Handy.
Martha giggled.
"You're very quiet Dr Jones," Jack observed, giving her shoulders a squeeze. "What secrets are you hiding?"
"None," Martha asserted, her face a picture of innocence.
The three men snorted with laughter, and she glared at them in mock offence until Handy stopped walking and pulled her into a lengthy kiss, which drew hoots from Mickey and Jack, and had various passersby looking around in puzzlement.
"Oh you!" Martha gasped, swatting him on the arm when he finally released her.
He chuckled, then grabbed her hand and swung their arms backwards and forwards, like a small child.
"You'd better not do that at UNIT HQ," she observed, "or you will end up working with Jack."
"Oh no! Spare me!" cried Handy in mock horror.
The others laughed. They reached the entrance to the park, and Jack hailed a taxi to take him and Mickey to the station for a train down to Cardiff. The two men promised to be in touch with Martha and Handy soon, then piled into the taxi.
"And where are we going, Dr Jones?" asked the Doctor's twin as they set off in the opposite direction on foot.
"Tube back to my flat," she answered. "I know you've nowhere else to stay."
"Sounds good."
He gave her a goofy grin, and she couldn't help grinning back, even as she knew that she would have to ring Tom tomorrow and have a long talk with her fiancé. She didn't know how things would turn out between herself and Handy, but she knew that she wanted a chance to find out; the fact that she'd had sex with the Doctor (and Handy) so readily told her that she wasn't really ready to marry Tom, no matter how much she'd told herself that she was.
"Thank you for letting me come with you," Handy said. "I was afraid you wouldn't want me around after the way the Doctor treated you."
Martha raised an eyebrow. "You're not him," she said. "Yes, you look like him, and you've got a lot of his knowledge, experience and memories in your head, but you're a different person - there's Donna in you, too. It wouldn't be fair to judge you solely on the fact that the Doctor hurt me - besides, he and I have moved past that now."
She led him down the steps into the Underground station, flourished her Oyster card at the ticket machine to register their journey, then dragged him onto the platform.
"Welcome to your new life, Mr Smith," Martha said, grinning as the Tube train pulled in.
"Thank you, Dr Jones." He grinned back and they stepped aboard.