Set after Human Nature and 42. Bits after Martha leaves as well.
He tossed and turned in his sleep, the temperature of his room becoming horridly unbearable. "ALL RIGHT!" He yelled promptly sitting up roughly, "what in the tempered schism are you waking me up for? Your systems are fine I checked them earlier. Remember when you sputtered out a spark on my finger when I tried changing the setting on the back of the console? Yeah, you're fine."
The TARDIS shook back with annoyance and flooded him with a feeling of anxiety and…was that sadness? Martha, was whispered into his head. "All of them have nightmares old gal," he muttered back regretfully. She made a soothing noise and his resolve crumbled, much like it always had for Martha.
He had always felt rather guilty for dragging Martha with him. This version was meant for constantly running, but for loving as well. He loved Rose, but he had a great fondness for Martha in his hearts. He had been downright horrible to her, but he was more than grateful for her. He new she would be a star the first time she made sure that mans' eyes were closed in the hospital.
She had saved his life so many times as of late. As he reached her door muffled sounds of distress flooded from the door, nothing loud just uncomfortable. As he opened the door he was met with a distressing sight. Martha Jones, his star, lay flat on her stomach with her face turned to the door twisted in pain.
His long legs carried him to her quite fast and he sat on the edge of her bed. Reaching for a piece of hair fall across her face his other hand found her hand. He intertwined their fingers and rubbed circles around the top. She calmed within a matter of seconds, but tears formed at the very corners of her closed eyes before she woke with a start. The action took his hand from the embrace of hers and she slowly sat up rubbing her face.
She resigned into a few deep breaths before looking to him, "Sorry, didn't realized I'd woken you," she said finally breathing steadily.
He smiled lightly and shook his head, "You didn't, she did," he said pointing to the wall of the TARDIS.
Martha smiled fondly and muttered a glum sounding okay. She had gotten rather close to the machine in the events of John Smith. She shivered at the memory and put her face into her hands.
"Martha, are you all right?" The Doctor asked in a concerned tone. Nothing was quite as unsettling as knowing that you were hurting someone by keeping them with you, something he would feel guilty about for the rest of his lives.
"No, but I will be," she replied with a definite tone. She sunk back down onto her pillows and willed her heart to calm. She didn't want him fretting over her though, all though that seemed hardly possible because she wasn't Rose. At that thought she turned softly from him and muttered a quick appreciation for him checking on her.
She wasn't expecting what happened next and she almost froze as she felt his hand tentatively rub against the spot between her shoulder blades as he spoke, "Martha, I know I've been a complete prat to you, but I can only help if you talk to me. Plus, the TARDIS is rather fond of you and I'd rather help my friend than be killed by her for leaving you to yourself."
She giggled at that and let herself relax into the soft circles being drawn on her back. It almost willed her to sleep until she realized… "Doctor, are you drawing in Gallifreyan on my back?"
A soft chuckle came from him, but he didn't stop, "Actually I am, yeah. I do it absentminded sometimes. Really it's calming." A strong sigh came from his lips. She let him continue for a bit more, but sat up and turned to him.
His face was crossed with a few emotions she couldn't read. He was guarded, but looked genuinely worried. She sat with her legs crossed opposite from him, "what do you do to stay calm, sane even? My mind is reeling with thoughts I'd rather not entertain," she admitted looking to her clasped hands in her lap.
He thought for a moment and then smiled brilliantly before hopping from her bed, "Oh Martha Jones, have I got an idea for you! Go to the library and I'll meet you there in two whirs of a sonic!" He said as he bounded away.
Martha sighed in a frustrated tone before she gave a laugh. No one in the world but him could always fix his problems by being an absolute child about it. She fished around for some warm clothes because the library got rather cold. Slipping on a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of soft pajama bottoms over her shorts she got up and crossed the room to the mirror. Her eyes were red-rimmed and she looked absolutely dismal. She threw her hair up and walked towards the library.
Meanwhile the Doctor ran rather frantically through the library, "Come on! Really? Rice, Richardson, Ramsey – oh really? That's a first name, come off it! Rothfus…AH! There she is, good old JK!" He said taking the book in his hand. He turned to walk back down the library hallway, "Blimey I've got a slew of books," he muttered smiling fondly at them all.
Martha sat with her chin perched atom her knees, fingering something on the chair. The Doctor looked carefully at her and recognized the sort of patterns. "Play often?" He inquired sitting next to her.
She turned to him and smiled sheepishly, "Erm, no. I quit after high school, but I used to play to calm myself down a lot."
"We'll have to play one day. I'm sure there's one in here somewhere," he said happily intrigued by her rather personal admission.
She smiled and nodded lightly, "Maybe. What's that then?"
"AH!" He said quite loudly. "A book! I'm going to go make tea and we'll settle with a bedtime story," he said grinning like the Cheshire cat at her.
"A bedti…seriously?" She asked incredulously. She was smiling, but his ridiculous antics left her dumbfounded sometimes.
"What? Always helps me to read while I'm really badly plagued with nightmares," he admitted rather quietly. Martha's resolve crumbled much like his always did around her. He wasn't sure what it was about her, but he knew he didn't always have to be a hero. Maybe it had been because of her willingness to be bold with him, but he could let her know his fears.
"All right, I'll bite." She replied. He smiled a cheeky grin and bounded off to go make tea.
Martha got curious while he was off and began to wander, marveling at his collection. His library was rather like a house. It reminded her of the library from Beauty and the Beast. It was long and wide with different corridors, but there were winding stairs. She fell upon the history section and climbed the ladder, laughing because she suddenly reminded herself of Ollivander. She flitted through a few books, but heard his footsteps.
"Martha?" He called out.
The feint sound of a ladder sliding could be heard and he laughed, or course she had wandered around. She came jogging up, "Here," she replied smiling.
"Having fun? I could go, ya know. You can explore," he muttered with mock hurt playing on his lips.
Martha almost laughed, but she chose to stomp her feet and cross her arms across her chest instead. Two can play this game – she thought to herself. "But you promised!" She whined out at him.
The Doctor laughed, flashing his pearly whites with a wide smile. "All right you insufferable child," and with that he took her hand as they walked to the couch in genuine comfort.
Martha sat and took a sip of her tea, letting it rest warmly as it reached the bottom of her tummy. "What book is it?" She asked. He placed his tea down and held the book up, covering his face in a playful manner. "The first, going classic are we Doctor?"
He pulled the book from his face and rested it atop the book, "Oi, like you mind!" They both laughed and talked about their favorite books as they finished their tea. "All right, put your feet up on my lap silly girl." He said smiling fondly at her.
Martha smiled back to him and let her sock clad feet rest against his long legs. He pulled her legs up further on his lap and rested the book between her shins, absently drawing again directly below her knee. He took his glasses from his front pocket and began to read to her.
The tale of Harry flooded her ears as he spoke softly to her. It lulled her to sleep and she woke in her bed the next morning, and thus began the habit of comforting his nightingale. He would read two or three chapters, with her legs over his. She was easy enough to carry so of course he placed her in bed. Sometimes he would fall asleep reading to her, but she understood why he didn't always. They would look at each other in a special way in the mornings after those evenings; he'd envelop her in a tight hug before asking where they would head off to next.
Then, as everything comes to an end, she left – in fair respect too. She wanted to be loved and he couldn't give her the love she yearned for, though he did love her as his own bright star. The night she left was not an easy one and he had terrible nightmares. He carried on like that for some time. After about two weeks he just stopped sleeping, knowing it would catch up with him eventually. After about a month after the events of the year that never happened he knew he needed to stop avoiding sleep, so he set back. Something completely uncharacteristic popped in his head as he flew the TARDIS into the Vortex, a short call couldn't hurt right?
Martha had been laying in her bed, finally home after the year that never was. She had been thinking of having one last evening with him, but knew it was a fleeting chance when her phone rang. She groaned and went to the living room to pick it up and stop the offending sound, "Hiya, its Martha," she answered exhausted.
"Martha, how are you?" Asked a very unsure sounding Doctor.
She smiled to herself, "really, I've been away for like nine hours and you're already phoning. Clingy!" She said into the phone playfully.
He chuckled, "It's lonely. Sue me."
"Only kidding," she replied. Her smile faltered as she realized why he may be calling, "are you all right though?"
He shifted in the console seat uncomfortably and made a sort of soft distressed grunt to her question. "Where are you?" She asked.
"Vortex. I really can't sleep and I haven't in about a month," he added softly.
"Has it been a month for you?"
"Yeah, I came back to this day…I was afraid that if I had waited longer you would never answer, or just not particularly care," he said trailing off.
"You're absolutely daft. Come on up then, I'll put you to sleep you big softy."
"You're not still at your mum's right?" He asked tentatively.
She laughed into the phone and the sound brought fond memories back to him, comforting. "No, just come up. Just so you know, mum doesn't resent you. She has just seen a lot," she said breathing out heavily.
"So have you and I am so, so sorry…" he said brokenly.
"I'm not. It's made me stronger. Please, don't…just…come up, okay?" She replied. He could hear her shiver over the phone and resolved that it was good to reach out sometimes. Dare he think she needed him as well?
He had already thrown the TARDIS from the vortex before calling her and thankfully she landed in the right time and place. He walked out and saw her standing outside of her door, "waiting for your pompous Time-Lord behind," she said into the phone.
"Yes Doctor," he answered as he hung up. He put the phone back into his pajama pants pocket and walked to her.
The sight that reached her was a little shocking and it broke her heart all over again, the difference was she knew how to be strong this time. She had seen him in sleepwear, but not in over a year. His hair was completely disheveled, eyes red-rimmed. He wore a black shirt and dark green bottoms and the shirt rode up on his hips a bit as he waved shyly to her. She walked right to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, "Oh Martha," he muttered into the side of her ear.
His resolve never crumbled, but he was overly clingy with her that evening. As she read to him in the vast library he wrapped his arms around her waist and snuggled, literally nuzzling, her belly. He was like a child, a very lost child. He was out about five chapters in, but she wouldn't be able to move without waking him. She slept in his embrace for the last time.
The Doctor woke slowly and realized someone's hands were in his hair. He was also wrapped around a very small frame. Martha - the TARDIS whispered like so many nights before. She was always rather dead to the world when she slept, something he envied about her. Still, he carefully de-tangled himself from her and grabbed her keys and phone from the table. He went to open her house door and walked slowly back to the TARDIS, lifting her in his arms. She was even lighter than he remembered and he sunk further into hating himself for her pain.
He placed her gently into bed and sat by her sleeping figure for a bit, just comforted by her soft frame. When he realized it was almost half past six he stood to leave, but not before whispering to a seemingly asleep Martha, "My nightingale and brightest star, I do love you." He kissed her lightly on the forehead. "I never let any one else know, but you're strong enough. You'll be a star Martha, the one I love."
He placed a lingering kiss on her cheek. As he closed the door she let a single tear fall…Always…
A/N: Oh lord you guys, I'm sorry. Lol. I loved her and just re-watched her series. I don't care, he LOVED HER. Xo.