DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except for Lilly, she is mine. All rights for Doctor Who do not belong to me sadly, if they did then Martha and The Doctor would be together. I also don't own O2
SUMMARY: Set after 'Last of The Time Lords', Martha told him that she expected him to come running when she called him. The time has come but not for the reason he thinks and it's time for The Doctor to think about what's really important in his life.
A/N This is a Ten/Martha fic so if you don't like Ten/Martha then don't read. This is set after 'Last of the Time Lords' but it had references to 'Gridlock' and 'The Lazarus Experiment'.
Come Running
"Keep that, 'cuz I'm not having you disappear. If that rings…when that rings, you better come runnin'. Got it?" She'd thrown him her phone, she'd get a new one but she needed to know that she could always get in touch with him but in her heart she knew that if she ever went back it would break her heart.
"Got it." He had held the phone up, hoping that she would call as soon as possible.
"I'll see you again mister." She'd smiled at him, smiled to hide the sadness that she was really feeling. He'd smiled back, wishing that things could have been very different between then but knowing that nothing could have ever come of them.
He'd let her walk out of his life and he'd regretted it ever since.
It had been a month on Earth since Martha had spoken to The Doctor but no matter how much she tried to get him off her mind she couldn't. She'd told him that she was 'getting out' because she couldn't pine after a man she'd never have but even though she was back on Earth, back in her apartment, she still missed him…still loved him. She looked at her mobile phone sitting on her dressing table and immediately knew what she had to do. She sat up and picked it up then dialled her old number, listening and waiting for him to answer.
"Welcome to the O2 messaging service, the person…" She put the phone down, cutting the answer machine off mid-sentence. She disappointedly lied down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The flashback playing over and over in her mind.
"Keep that, 'cuz I'm not having you disappear. If that rings…when that rings, you better come runnin'. Got it?"
"Got it."
He'd promised her that he'd be there, that he'd come running but he'd broken that promise. She was devastated; she'd truly believed that she could trust him to come back. Part of her knew she was being childish and she mentally kicked herself for expecting him to drop everything for her but when she'd left she'd seen something in his eyes, at the time she'd thought that something could possibly have been love but if it had been then he'd be here with her now. She wasn't going to give up; she picked up her phone and dialled the number again.
"Hello?" An unfamiliar voice answered, it was a female voice.
She hung up and threw her phone across the room. He'd found a replacement for her already. She flopped back down on the bed and closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears behind them from falling. Her phone rang, the shrill sound coming from the corner of the room where it had landed. She ignored it, not wanting to talk to anyone. Eventually it stopped and she drifted off to sleep.
About and hour later she opened her eyes to find a familiar face hovering over her. "Finally Sleeping Beauty awakes." He smiled at her and she closed her eyes and rolled onto her side, facing away from him. "You tried to call me, is everything ok?" He sounded concerned but if he was so bothered about her then he wouldn't have replaced her so quickly.
"Yeah, everything's fine. Sorry if I bothered you." Her voice was cold and icy, like her heart since she picked up the phone and dialled her old mobile number.
"Well there must have been some reason you called me." He was confused as to why she was being this way with him, she'd called him but now she was ignoring him.
"I didn't call you though, did I? Well I did but you didn't answer the phone." She sounded hurt but he still didn't understand why she was being so strange.
"No I didn't, I was kinda held up but Lilly answered, said nobody was there but I guessed it was you."
"Didn't take you long to replace me, did it?" Her question was rhetorical but he insisted on answering it anyway.
"That's what all this is about?"
"You are all I've been thinking about since I walked out but what have you been doing?" Again a rhetorical question which she answered herself. "Not thinking about me, oh no, you've been screwing some tart! Is she good in bed? Is she a better kisser than me?"
He looked at her, horror written on his face. "I wouldn't know; I haven't done anything with her." He was telling the truth.
"You expect me to believe that?" She kept her back to him so that he wouldn't be able to see her true feelings in her eyes.
"I didn't and what would it matter if I had? You left me, remember?" She remained silent so he carried on. "I told you to come with me but you wanted to stay with your family and I accepted that."
Finally she spoke, the sneer evident in her voice. "So how many times had she been with you? One trip?" Her voice had a hint of sarcasm and he rolled his eyes.
"You could have been my assistant permanently but you said you had to be here for everyone else. I didn't push you to stay; I knew that if I did you'd mind up hating me. I let you go, what did you expect me to do, stay on my own for the rest of my life?"
"I just didn't expect you to replace me so soon. I'm sorry for being so stupid."
He could tell that he'd hurt her and before he left he needed to make her realise that he hadn't replaced her. "She isn't your replacement; nobody can replace you. You'll always have a special place in my hearts, I mean you…"
She cut him off, not wanting to hear what he had to say. "Just go Doctor, save it for Lila."
"Lilly." He corrected her, she may not have been Martha but he still cared about her too.
"Same diff', just get out, saying goodbye again would be too painful."
He cared about her too much to hurt her again so he did as she wished and silently left her bedroom and her life.
When he got back to the TARDIS Lilly was waiting for him. "So where to now? How about…"
He interrupted her, not really wanting to go anywhere tonight. "Nowhere, we'll stay here and go somewhere tomorrow."
"Something wrong Doc?" He cringed at the name, he preferred to be called by his full name, 'Doc' was a name given to doctors who worked in hospitals, doctors like Martha.
"No, just revisiting my past. I'm going to bed; we'll probably have a busy day tomorrow. Good night Lilly, see you in the morning." He had decided when Martha left that he needed another assistant but no matter how much he pretended, he didn't want Lilly, he wanted Martha.
"Yeah, night Doc." He simply smiled at her and headed for his bedroom.
He changed into a pair of pyjama pants and a t-shirt then lied down on the bed and closed his eyes. He couldn't get to sleep, he kept thinking about all the time he'd spent with her.
"I'm sorry, I had no idea."
"Yeah, the Daleks won and I'm the last one."
"I…I don't know what to say to you Doctor."
"There's nothing you can say Martha, I'm alone now…there's no one left."
"That's not true, you have me…you'll always have me."
She'd taken him in her arms and held him, comforting him and letting him know she's always be there for him. She wasn't though, she wasn't with him now.
"I can't believe he's really gone."
"He died to save us Doctor; he was a great…a great…"
She hadn't been sure what to call him but the Doctor knew what she meant.
"I know…I'm glad you're ok."
"Thanks, I'm glad you're ok too. When I was on that ship or whatever you wanna call it, all I could think was that I was never going to see you again. I was so scared I…"
She had trailed off crying and he had cuddled her until she calmed down, she had comforted him and he had comforted her, that was the way that their partnership worked…had worked.
"Thank you!" She'd thrown her arms around him and he'd picked her up, holding her close. He'd never forget how well they had fitted together, like they were made for each other.
"Well…you were never 'just a passenger' anyway." He'd secretly been happy that she had wanted to go with him; he'd wished that she would put up a fight until he agreed to take her. A few days later he'd given her a key to the TARDIS, letting her know that she was officially part of his team.
He turned his head and looked at his bedside table, her key lay there, next to his own. She'd returned it before she'd left. It was then that it hit him, the only reason she wasn't there was because he hadn't put up enough of a fight. She had taught him to never give up on what he believed in but here he was feeling sorry for himself. He knew that he should really be fighting for her, like she had fought until he had agreed to take her with him. He got out of bed and picked up both keys then quietly slipped out of the TARDIS and crossed the road to Martha's apartment. He let himself in using his sonic screwdriver and walked up the stairs to her bedroom. He went in and was saddened by the look on her face. She was asleep now but she had tear tracks on her face making it obvious that she had cried herself to sleep.
He walked over to the bed and sat on the edge of it as he gently shook her. "Martha?" He shook her again, this time a little more forcefully. "Martha?"
She groggily opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Doctor? What are you doing here?"
"I was wrong to leave."
"You didn't, I left you remember?" Her voice was full of regret as she admitted that she had been the one to leave.
"No I mean before when you told me to get out, I shouldn't have left."
She sat up and looked into his eyes, confused. "Why not? You made it quite clear that you're happy with Lilly."
"I…I thought I was ok, I thought I'd managed to move on."
"And?" She urged him to continue.
"I'm not ok. I've not moved on and no matter how hard I've tried to get on with Lilly the truth is…she's not you. She calls me 'Doc', she expects me to be the strong one, she doesn't understand me like you do. I miss you Martha Jones."
"Are you going somewhere with this?" She looked at him confused, urging him to finish so that she could go back to sleep.
"I need you more than I realised. I tried to let Lilly in but she's not you, she'll never be you. Come back, come and travel with me…please?"
"I can't Doctor. Me and you have been through too much and I can't go back. I'm sorry."
He wasn't leaving without a fight. "I'm not leaving without you Martha and if you won't come with me then I won't leave at all. I'll stay here; I'll do whatever it takes to be with you."
"Don't you see Doctor; we need to move on…you need to move on. You'll learn to care about Lilly as much as you did me."
"But I won't; I need you. I don't want Lilly, I want you Martha Jones." He held her key out in front of her. "What do you say?"
"Did you give her a key?" He shook his head. "Did you lend her mine?" Again he shook his head. "I…I'm sorry. It's over, I'm not going back.
He'd fought and lost. This was one battle that even The Doctor couldn't win. "Ok, I get it. Well…keep this, it has your name on it after all, call it a reminder. I'll miss you Martha Jones."
"I'll miss you too Doctor but don't worry I'll never forget you, never forget me ok?" Her eyes filled with tears as she took the key off him. Then she had an idea, she reached up and slid the key over his head so it came to hang around his neck. His eyes also filled up and he returned the gesture by sliding his key over her head.
"Goodbye Martha Jones." He let a few of the tears fall and she reached out to wipe them away.
"Goodbye Doctor." She kissed his cheek and he stood up.
"Take care of yourself." She told him to do the same and then he went back to the TARDIS. He stepped inside, went into his bedroom and collapsed on his bed, sobs wracking his body.
Meanwhile in Martha's bedroom, she lay silently thinking of the time they had spent together, tears falling down her cheeks as she remembered how he used to hold her when she was upset and how he used to laugh at her when she made an idiot of herself. She touched the key dangling round her neck.
Back in the TARDIS Lilly walked into The Doctor's bedroom and sat at his side on the bed. "Doc?" He looked up at her, tears still falling down his face. "What's wrong?"
"I love her, I love her so much but she doesn't want to know." Lilly looked down at the key hanging round his neck and saw the name 'Martha' engraved on it. She knew at that moment that the doctor would never love her, he was madly in love someone else and she could never take Martha's place.
At that moment they both heard the door being unlocked. Panicking, The Doctor stood up and grabbed Lilly's wrist. "Quick, follow me." He dragged her out of his room and into her bedroom then shoved her to the floor. "Sorry, under the bed, now." She crawled under the bed and he crawled under after her.
They could hear footsteps walking towards the door and then it creaked open. Someone or something walked into the room and looked under the bed. The Doctor was greeted by a set of cold, evil eyes as a hand reached under the bed then dragged him out. The next thing he knew he was being thrown across the room. He looked up as the thing was about to hit him again, he closed his eyes waiting for the blow; feeling like he had nothing left to fight for. He heard a smash followed by a thud but when he opened his eyes the thing was lying motionless on the floor, a piece of pottery sticking out of its head. He looked up to see a familiar figure standing over him. "Martha?"
"I'm sorry." She fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly as he sobbed into her neck and wrapped his arms around her waist.
Lilly crawled out from under the bed and looked at the sight before her, knowing that The Doctor and the girl that she was assuming was Martha were meant for each other.
"Let me come with you, please?" She practically begged him as he sat in her arms, holding on to her for dear life.
"Yes, God yes. He pulled back and looked at her, "What made you change your mind?"
"I need you too. I need you to hold me when I'm upset, to laugh at me when I make a complete idiot of myself. I need the adventure in my life; I need you in my life."
He looked up at Lilly and she knew what she had to do. She could see in his eyes that he was sorry for hurting her but he needed Martha and she needed him. "Doc?" He raised his eyebrows and she told him what she knew he wanted to know. "Doc, I need to go home. I thought I could handle this but I can't, I can't get used to it."
He pulled away from Martha and stood up then helped her to her feet. He walked over to Lilly and held his arms open to her. "Thank you Lilly."
"You're welcome." She smiled and hugged him then pulled away.
"I'll take you home in the morning; right now I need some sleep." She told him ok and he got rid of the body laying dead in the bedroom. Then he told Lilly goodnight and took hold of Martha's hand, leading him to his bedroom. They both climbed into bed and he lay on his back as she snuggled into his side. "You'll have to pack some stuff tomorrow; you do still wanna come, right?" The fear was evident in his voice.
"Yeah, I really do. Wanna swap keys back?"
He sincerely smiled down at her. "No, I want you to keep mine."
She smiled sincerely for the first time in at least a month. "I love you Doctor."
"I love you too Martha Jones." They said their goodnights and then fell asleep in each others arms, completely unaware that in the room next door Lilly Johnson was silently sobbing her heart out, knowing that she would never hold a more special place than Martha in The Doctor's hearts.
A/N Well there you have it, please r&r and no flames please; if you don't like Ten/Martha I did warn you at the beginning not to read it. Thanks to those of you that did and reviews are always loved…even more than cheesecake.