Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ Dr Who – Martha and Ten The Inbetweens and Backstories ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

`Der-der-der-der'

07:00, and a hand appeared from under the purple duvet and fumbled across the top of the bedside cabinet, silenced the alarm clock, and retreated back into the warm cocoon of the slumbering medical student. `Urgh', it couldn't possibly be morning already, she'd only just put her text books down and gone to bed, finally able to recite all the digestive enzymes in the small intestine.

She reluctantly dragged herself out of the warm, welcoming bed and made her way to the tiny bathroom of her tiny flat. She turned on the tap for the shower, leaving the cold water to spray into the bathtub while she had a pee. By the time she'd finished emptying her bladder, the water coming out of the shower head was nice and hot.

She sat at the dressing table in her bedroom, wrapped in a pink bathrobe and a pink towel around her head in a turban, eating her muesli and doing her make up, trying to get ready in time to get to work. It was weird, but no matter how hard she tried, or how much she planned, she never seemed to have enough time. She would definitely make time tonight though, it was her little brother's twenty first birthday party, and there was no way she was going to be late for that.

She dressed in black trousers, and turquoise blouse, and put her hair back with a couple of hair grips. She was about to put her coat on, when she remembered the washing in the machine.

'Arrrgh . . . damn!' She quickly ran into the tiny kitchen and pulled the items out of the washing machine and quickly draped them over the clothes horse, before rushing out of the door to catch the bus for the short journey to the Royal Hope Hospital.

As she walked along Chancellor Street from the bus stop towards the hospital, her phone rang, and she saw that it was her elder sister Tish.

'You're up early. What's happening?'

'It's a nightmare, because Dad won't listen, and I'm telling you, Mum is going mental. Swear to God, Martha, this is epic. You've got to get in there and stop him,' Tish said.

'How do I do that?' she asked, knowing that she was talking about her dad bringing his girlfriend to Leo's party.

'Tell him he can't bring her.'

She was about to answer when her call waiting tone beeped. 'Hold on, that's Leo. I'll call you back.' Why was it that everyone called her if there was a problem? I mean, Tish was the eldest.

'Martha, if Mum and Dad start to kick off, tell them I don't even want a party. I didn't even ask for one. They can always give me the money instead,' Leo told her.

'Yeah, but why do I have to tell them? Why can't you?' Her call waiting tone beeped again. 'Hold on, that's Mum. I'll call you back.' Maybe it's because they thought she was the smartest of the siblings. She didn't think she was, even if she had gotten into medical school.

'I don't mind your father making a fool of himself in private, but this is Leo's twenty first, everyone is going to be there, and the entire family is going to look ridiculous,' Francine, her mother said.

'Mum, it's a party; I can't stop Dad from bringing his girlfriend.' Her call waiting tone beeped yet again. 'Hold on, that's Dad, I'll call you back.' For God's sake, what did they think she was, the family agony aunt?

'Martha? Now, tell your mother, Leo is my son, and I'm paying for half that party. I'm entitled to bring who I like,' her father, Clive said forcefully. Why he couldn't tell her himself, she'd never know. Oh, actually, she did . . . they weren't talking to each other.

'I know, but think what it's going to look like for Mum, if you're standing there with Annalise,' she said, trying to play the devil's advocate.

'What's wrong with Annalise?' he asked her defensively.

Actually, there was nothing wrong with Annalise, Martha quite liked her. She was a bit too young for her dad she thought, but she was a nice enough person, and she wasn't an emotional bully like her mum was.

She could hear her in the background. 'Is that Martha? Say hi . . . hi Martha, hi!'

'Hi, Annalise,' Martha called out.

'Big kiss, lots of love, see you at the party, babe. Now, take me shopping, big boy.'

Martha looked at her phone in amusement and turned it off, time to end that conversation. A tall, thin man with sticky up hair, wearing a brown pin striped suit and long brown coat stepped out in front of her.

'Like so,' he said, looking at her as though he knew her, and was making some kind of point as he removed his tie. 'See?'

The man left as suddenly as he had arrived, and Martha gave him a puzzled look. Obviously he must have been heading for the Mental Health Outpatients Department.

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The Doctor was sitting in his favourite comfy chair in the library, reading the latest edition of Galactic News on his E-reader. He looked for stories which he had been involved in, in any of his incarnations. Rose used to love it when he found himself, and he had to explain which one of him it was, and who he was with. They passed many an evening like that . . .

He missed her. He missed her teasing smile, when she used to try and wind him up. He missed her laugh, he missed her look of admiration when he was being particularly clever, he missed the smell of her perfume, he missed the feel of her hand in his . . . he just missed her.

He wondered what was she doing now? Was she missing him? Of course she was, they were in love, but he hoped that she was moving on and making a life for herself in that new world. After all, she'd got her mum, she'd got a new dad, and he hoped that was working out alright after the dodgy start.

Pete Tyler was in denial that Rose could be his daughter, but she had said there were five of them now, when he had said goodbye to her on that beach, so it sounded as though they were a family. And of course there was Mickey . . . would they get back together again after she had gotten over him. That thought hurt him, but he also hoped that she didn't deny herself the chance of happiness with someone else.

"Enough of this maudlin", he thought to himself, he would never know how she was getting on, or how her life would turn out. She was Rose Tyler, and she would be fine, she'd proved that when she'd travelled with him. He stood up and headed for the console room to see what was occurring in the universe.

He activated the view screen and performed a quick scan for any unusual phenomena, when he noticed some plasma coils accumulating energy. Now that wasn't unusual in itself, except that it was on twenty first century Earth, and they didn't have that kind of technology, and it was around a hospital near the Thames.

Now this was the kind of thing that would distract him for a while, and help him to stop pining for Rose. It looked like something was interfering with the hospital, the questions were, who, and why? If he could get himself admitted to the hospital, he could work the investigation from the inside.

Royal Hope Hospital.

Chancellor Street, London.

The Doctor lowered Martha onto an upholstered bench seat in the reception area of the hospital; she was starting to come around. Everyone was suffering from the effects of mild hypoxia, but there would be no permanent damage, once again his respiratory bypass had come in useful.

He made his way to the main doors and noticed there was a police cordon, paramedics, reporters, and sightseers. He certainly didn't fancy hanging around and having to try and explain this to the authorities. He went to his right, and tried to find another way out, heading for the stores. He went past racks of supplies and boxes, until he found the loading bay, and managed to `fade' into the street and back onto the Albert Embankment.

As he walked towards the TARDIS, he risked one look back at the hospital, and saw Martha looking at him. He smiled at her and touched a finger to his forehead in a salute to her, before turning away and entering the TARDIS.

"Well, that could have gone better", he thought to himself, as he put the TARDIS into the Vortex. As usual, things went down to the wire, he'd have to try and break that habit of leaving things until the last second. But on the whole, all things considered, it got him out of the TARDIS, and gave him something to do.

He watched the time rotor pump up and down as he usually did when he was thinking.

`Just promise me one thing . . . find someone', he saw Donna telling him.

`You just leave us behind. Is that what you're going to do to me?' Rose had asked him. He moved away from the rotor and sat on the jump seat.

`Because sometimes, I think you need someone to stop you' Donna had said.

`NO! I won't let you do this' Rose had said as she stood in front of his mortal enemy, a Dalek. `It couldn't kill me, it's changing. What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?'

And then Donna had said it. 'That place was flooding and burning and they were dying, and you were stood there like, I don't know . . . a stranger . . . and then you made it snow, I mean, you scare me to death.'

'I'm sorry Rose, I'm turning back into the man you first met . . . I think Donna was right, I need someone to tell me when enough is enough.' He remembered when she was crying on that beach, when he told her that it was the same old life, travelling in the TARDIS.

`On your own?' She had asked him, horrified by the idea of him being on his own . . . even if it wasn't her by his side.

He stood up and walked back to the console, he'd come to a decision, he needed someone to be his moral compass, just as she had been. Donna wasn't interested, Martha Jones however, had shown a remarkable ability to deal with the impossible and bizarre, and was good in a crisis.

She'd said it was her Brother Leo's twenty first birthday party tonight; he did a quick check on the view screen and found out where the party was being held.

'Hah! The Market Tavern, right then Martha Jones, let's offer you one trip, and see if you've got the right stuff.'

He landed the TARDIS in an alley across the street from the Market Tavern, and went to stand at the corner, where he could watch the coming and going of the Jones family and their guests. He saw a leggy blonde storm out of the Tavern, followed by members of the Jones family. It was all a bit domestic.

The argument moved off, down the street, and Martha stood there, watching them go. She'd had enough of trying to be the sensible one, the peacemaker, the devil's advocate. Sod it; let them get on with it. She glanced across the street, and did a double take, was that the Doctor standing there, watching her? He turned and wandered off down the alley.

She hurried across the road and looked down the alley, he'd gone. She walked down the alley and turned the corner at the end, ah, there he was, leaning back against the blue box that she thought she'd seen outside the hospital.

'I went to the moon today,' she said with a smile.

'A bit more peaceful than down here,' he noted.

'You never even told me who you are,' she said as she walked towards him.

'The Doctor.'

'What sort of species? It's not every day I get to ask that.'

'I'm a Time Lord.'

'Riiiight! Not pompous at all, then,' she said sarcastically.

Ooh, she wasn't fazed or intimidated by him being a superior alien being then, that was a good start. There was a slight smirk on his face as he reached inside his jacket. 'I just thought . . . since you saved my life and I've got a brand new sonic screwdriver which needs road testing . . . you might fancy a trip.'

'What, into space?'

'Well . . .'

'But I can't. I've got exams. I've got things to do. I have to go into town first thing and pay the rent; I've got my family going mad.'

Ah, she'd got a life, just like Rose had when he first met her, and he now knew what to do about that. 'If it helps . . . I can travel in time as well.'

'Get out of here.'

'I can.'

'Come on now, that's going too far.'

'I'll prove it.'

He turned around and entered the TARDIS and after a few moments, it started to dematerialise, accompanied by the most wonderful sound she had ever heard. She walked forwards and held her hand out, trying to see if it had just become invisible, or if it had really disappeared. She stepped back suddenly as she heard the sound again, and felt the breeze from the air being twisted out of shape.

The TARDIS rematerialised where it had been standing, and the Doctor stepped out, holding his tie up for her to see. 'Told you.'

'No, but . . . that was this morning . . . . Did you . . . ? Oh, my God. You can travel in time. But hold on . . . if you could see me this morning, why didn't you tell me not to go in to work?' she asked him accusingly. She nearly died today, and he could have prevented that . . . couldn't he?

'Crossing into established events is strictly forbidden,' he told her, and then realised that he had done just that to impress her. 'Except for cheap tricks,' he added as a proviso.

'And that's your spaceship?' she said with a smile.

'It's called the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimension in Space,' he explained, as she reached forwards and stroked the TARDIS.

'Your spaceship's made of wood,' she observed, not much of a spaceship if it's just made of wood. 'There's not much room . . . we'd be a bit intimate.'

He pushed the door open. 'Take a look.'

She stepped inside, and he followed her to see her reaction. She gazed up at the vaulted ceiling, the large, vaulted ceiling. 'No . . . no, no.' She turned and ran outside.

'But it's just a box . . . . But it's huge,' she shouted to him inside.

She popped her head through the door. 'How does it do that? It's wood.' She stepped back inside. 'It's like a box with that room just rammed in.' Then she said it, they all did. 'It's bigger on the inside.' The Doctor mouthed the words as she said them.

'Is it? I hadn't noticed.' That was it, she was in and she'd passed the test. He took off his long coat and threw it over a coral strut. 'Right then, let's get going.'

She followed him up the ramp, looking around the console room. 'But . . . is there a . . . crew, like a navigator and stuff? Where is everyone?'

'Just me,' he said with a slight hint of sadness in his voice.

'All on your own?'

'Well, sometimes I have guests . . . I mean some friends, travelling alongside. I had . . .' He thought about his lost love. 'There was recently . . . a friend of mine.' His voice went quiet, thoughtful. 'Rose, her name was. Rose.' He didn't want to talk about his relationship with Rose, so he decided on a non committal explanation. 'And we were together, anyway.'

"Were together? So that was it, he's just been dumped by his girlfriend" she thought to herself. 'Where is she now?' Martha asked.

'With her family, happy . . . She's fine. She's . . . not that you're replacing her,' he told her firmly, pointing a finger at her.

'Never said I was,' she smiled. So this Rose had left him and gone back to her family.

'Just one trip to say thanks. You get one trip, then back home,' he said rather angrily. 'I'd rather be on my own.' He thought about Rose again.

He was still in love with her; that was obvious. Maybe she could distract him; after all, he was quite attractive, in a geeky kind of way. And he was a damn good kisser. She sidled up to him. 'You're the one that kissed me,' she teased.

'That was a genetic transfer,' he said, a bit too “matter of fact”.

She continued to tease him. 'And if you will wear a tight suit.'

'Now . . . don't!'

'And then travel all the way across the universe just to ask me on a date.'

'Stop it,' he said firmly, staring at her. He was still mourning the loss of Rose, and was in no mood to have emotions messed with.

'For the record? I'm not remotely interested. I only go for humans,' she lied.

'Good,' he said, relieved that she had gotten the message. 'Well, then. Close down the gravitic anomaliser, fire up the helmic regulator. And finally, the hand brake. Ready?'

'No.'

'Off we go,' he said as the TARDIS dematerialised with a big jolt, and they hung on for dear life.

'Blimey, it's a bit bumpy.'

'Welcome aboard, Miss Jones,' he shouted, holding his hand out across the console.

'It's my pleasure, Mister Smith,' she replied, shaking his hand.