After Mars

Author Note: This fic is AU and begins with the Tenth Doctor saving Adelaide Brooke from suicide after returning her to earth – which causes a chain of events to unfold that the Doctor had certainly not planned for...


Summary:

In the moment that Adelaide Brooke walks away from the Doctor on that fateful snowy night, resentful that he had decided to manipulate her fate, the Doctor sees a flash of what is to come: Adelaide's suicide.

He runs into the house, to find her about to shoot herself, and instead, infuriated that he has yet again tried to manipulate her destiny, Adelaide turns the gun on him, telling him he won't stand in her way.

But knowing Adelaide will not harm him, he approached her and talks her out of suicide. But after the laser pistol falls to the carpet, the Doctor and the former commander of Bowie Base One become unexpectedly closer as emotions become muddled and the Doctor desperately tries to explain as he promises her that the future will not be changed, and her grand daughter will still travel the stars. Whilst in the heat of the moment, the Doctor kisses her, and that kiss leads to much more as he tells her that nothing is more life affirming than making love.

After their brief encounter the Doctor leaves in the morning, telling her that she must believe him when he says Susie Fontana Brooks will still become a space pioneer, inspired now face to face by her grandmother's tales. And so the Doctor leaves, planning to travel for a long time before answering the call of the Ood Planet, because he feels a sense of impending doom that is linked somehow to his own predicted death...

Many years later, the Twelfth Doctor is travelling alone, still feeling part of him is lost, along with a memory that had become a story of a girl called Clara Oswald, who now seems to exist only in the chords of the music he plays on his guitar. Then the Tardis lands unexpectedly onboard an early earth built light speed ship. On meeting the Captain, he learns she is Susie Fontana Brooke – the grand daughter of Adelaide – who is furious with him and slaps his face, telling him he could have had the decency to go back for her grandmother after what he had done...

Once Susie has explained all, the Doctor returns to his Tardis and sets a course for Earth, in the year 2060, where he meets with Adelaide Brook and once again is met with anger at the mention of the Doctor, because it seems in the mid 2000s, HRT not only slowed ageing but also restored fertility, and the Tenth Doctor's one night stand with Adelaide has resulted in the birth of a daughter, who Adelaide has named Steffi, after her colleague who died in the Mars tragedy whilst watching a last video of her children as the water came in...

The Doctor thinks back to Mars and his other lifetimes, and how could have fallen in love with Adelaide – if not for the Mars disaster and for the fact that he was afraid of his impending death and determined to run... So the Doctor sets out to find his Tenth self, to inform him that Adelaide and his daughter need him.

But the Twelfth Doctor's actions will set off a chain of events that will affect not only the Tenth Doctor, but eventually affect him too - in such a way that he will understand exactly how Adelaide felt when she told his Tenth self the TimeLord Victorious is wrong...


Rated T For some adult themes also later on a return of the Flood, and much emotional roller coastering!

Disclaimer: I write for love of fan fiction and own nothing.


Chapter 1

Earth, 2059:

It was snowing. The Tenth Doctor had stood there and watched her walk away, her parting words had been that the Time Lord Victorious was wrong. So many emotions swirled about inside him, the Doctor couldn't make sense of any of it. All he knew was he had saved Adelaide Brooke, and he had no regrets. She was a legend who would inspire her grand daughter to pilot the first light speed ship, the Brookes family would be earth pioneers in space travel...

And Adelaide was also one of the most remarkable people had ever known. He had watched her fighting to save her crew and her base, refusing to give up even when the odds were against her, she was a remarkable woman and if things had been different, if they had not had to fight the Flood, if the tragedy had not happened... Perhaps, maybe they could have formed a bond, a friendship... perhaps, he even could have loved her...

He wanted to follow her into the house.

The Doctor looked up, saw her reach the doorway. She had a laser pistol in her hand. She looked back at him and in that moment, her eyes seemed dead.

The Doctor blinked, and caught the future:

Adelaide Brooke died on Earth.

Same date, different location.

And right now, Adelaide had a laser pistol in her hand...

His dark eyes widened as he broke into a run, and not for the first time that day, the Doctor yelled "Adelaide!"


There was a crash as he shoved open the front door that she had left ajar.

"Drop it!" he yelled.

Adelaide was standing in the front room, a lamp was on, a soft lamp that threw a glow about a corner of the room that illuminated the pictures on the shelf of her daughter and young granddaughter. She had been standing there, her gaze fixed on her family as she pressed the pistol to her temple.

As the Doctor came into the room, she turned from the pictures and pointed the gun at him, as her eyes blazed with anger.

"Don't you come another step closer," she warmed him bitterly, "You have no right to decided who lives or dies, or when they die!"

Snowflakes were still in his hair and on the shoulders of his coat as the Doctor stood there, while Adelaide kept the gun trained on him. She was over by the fire place. He was in the middle of the room, beside a sofa and standing on a thick rug. There was a distance between them, he couldn't snatch the gun from her hand, and he understood she had every right to be angry.

"I know you won't shoot," he said cautiously, "That's not who you are."

But her aim was unwavering and the look in her eyes resolute.

"Maybe I can't take the chance on letting you walk away, Doctor. You've already changed destiny and that is dangerous."

He ran his fingers through his hair, brushing off snowflakes and shrugged.

"Well, I suppose it can be...then again, so is holding a pistol to your head, or pointing it at me, like you're doing right now..." he met her gaze and held her in it, "Put the gun down, Adelaide, you won't gain anything by shooting yourself or me. I can see the future. Susie still becomes the first captain of the first light speed ship. It doesn't change. But if you shoot yourself, she loses her grandmother. It doesn't seem fair, does it? Same outcome, she has a great future but you die now...no, that's not fair at all. It's not fair on your family!"

She was still looking at him coldly, her aim unwavering.

"Put it down," he said again, "It changes nothing, the Adelaide Brooke I know is not the sort of person to die for nothing. Dying for something, that can be a noble reason. But for nothing? You are so much better than that and you know it!"

Her gaze shifted to the pictures of her family once more, and then she gave a heavy sigh and dropped the gun to the carpet.

"You'd better be right that this changes nothing!" she said bitterly, and it sounded like a threat.

The Doctor breathed a relieved sigh and walked over to her, surprising her with a tight hug, and then letting go again.

"They need you," he promised her, "Susie needs you, she needs you more than any one else – the stories about Mars, she needs to hear them from you when she's older, you need to tell her exactly what happened. Who knows, one day maybe her crew could encounter something like the Flood. She needs you to tell her everything."

Adelaide paused for thought, looking again to the family pictures, and then she nodded.

"You're right about that," she admitted, "She does need to know what could be out there waiting for her."

"But it's not all bad," the Doctor promised, "There are some brilliant species to discover, friendly species. It's not every day you come up against something like the Flood."

Sadness clouded her eyes as she thought of her lost colleagues.

"That can never be allowed to happen again."

The look in the Doctor's dark eyes softened as he smiled.

"And there's no one better to advise on safety than you," he reminded her.

Adelaide didn't return his smile.

"This house has been empty for a long time," she replied, "I'd better get the heating on."

"And I'll take care of this," the Doctor said, retrieving the laser pistol from the floor and putting it away in his coat pocket.

Adelaide had reached the door. She looked back at him.

"No need to worry, Doctor," she said calmly, "I'm only putting the heating on, I'm not about to hang myself."

Then she left the room, leaving the Doctor standing beside the pictures of Adelaide's family, once the cause of her death and now her reason to live...

The pipes groaned as the heating system kicked into life, and then Adelaide crossed the hallway and headed for the stairs. The Doctor left the front room, paused to close the front door and then looked up the stairway.

"Do you need me to come with you?"

Her reply was pure sarcasm.

"No thank you, Doctor. I can manage jumping out of the top floor window by myself. I'm actually going for a shower."

"Right," he replied, and he waited at the bottom of the stairs, listening as the water began to run in the bathroom.


By the time Adelaide came back downstairs, the snowfall outside was growing thick and fast, the Doctor had watched from the window as the night sky was dotted with a swirl of flurrying flakes that dizzied to earth falling softly, adding another blanket to the already heavy snow that covered the street outside. Then he had closed the curtains and switched on the fire that added more glow to the room, and heat that was welcoming on top of the warmth spreading through the house now the radiators were switched on. He had taken off his coat and draped it over an armchair, then sat down on a sofa and waited for Adelaide to return.

When she came back into the front room, she was wrapped in a thick bath robe and her fair damp hair fell to her shoulders.

"I'd offer you something to eat but I've been away a long time, there's nothing in the house," she told him as she went over to a drinks cabinet and opened it up and took out a bottle of red wine and two glasses.

"But I could certainly use something strong tonight. It's not every day you're on Mars, running a mission and then it's attacked and most of your crew perish and then you find yourself back on earth, still with the day of hell going through your mind..."

As she spoke, she had opened the wine and poured it, and then brought two glasses over to the table, set them down and sat on the sofa beside the Doctor.

"I don't think I can ever wipe it from my mind. To me it will always be there, sharp as it is now. Their screams, their suffering..."

"I did all I could."

She saw regret in the Doctor's eyes.

"You couldn't have saved us all, Doctor."

"Are you still sorry I saved you?" he asked.

She was still looking into his eyes, regarding him over the rim of her glass as she took a sip. Then she set the glass down on the table.

"Perhaps not. At least I know Susie's future isn't affected. That's what matters most."

"It matters to me that I couldn't save the others," he told her, "It doesn't seem enough. It never does. I always try and help, I say I won't, but I do. I have to. I can't walk away when something can be done."

"Even if its wrong?" she asked.

That was a difficult question to answer.

"I don't think saving lives can ever be wrong," the Doctor replied, "Standing back and doing nothing would have been wrong. I know you agree there because I saw how hard you fought to save your crew."

More pain flickered in her eyes – it was clear that Mars would haunt her forever.

"Susie's life is unaffected," she said, as if to confirm it to herself once again, "So my life -"

"Is worth living," the Doctor reminded her, and as he placed his hand on her arm and she turned her head and their eyes met again, she recalled every moment on Mars, every moment since this stranger had arrived stating name rank and intention as The Doctor, Doctor and fun...

"You don't need to remind me of that now," she told him, "I know you're right – I thought the future would be changed, clearly not, so yes, I can inspire Susie face to face."

"And you need to remember just how brilliant you are," the Doctor said as he smiled and his eyes sparkled, "You're Adelaide Brooke! You're a legend!"

Despite all that had happened, a smile flickered about her lips.

"You sound like a fan."

"I am a huge fan of yours! More so since I saw how you tried to save the base and everyone in it. If you'd died up there, no one ever would have known about your courage. You're an amazing person. I mean that."

His tone had suddenly changed as the look in his eyes intensified. It was a look she had seen before – and perhaps, without thinking, returned, while they had worked together to fight the Flood.

Suddenly the Doctor was leaning closer. He had done it quickly, needing to be closer as emotion burned in his eyes.

"I had to save you," he said quietly, "Not just because you're a pioneer – I had to save you because..." he paused, looked away, then as he looked back at her, he felt it as sure as he saw it in her eyes:

If not for the disaster, this would have happened sooner or later...

"Because..." he fell silent, knowing words were not needed now.

He leant closer, and his first, cautious kiss was welcomed. Then he slid his arms around her and kissed her deeply, pulling back breathlessly to say one last thing:

"I knew it from the moment we first met," he told her, and his eyes were dark with desire, "I knew you were the one."

"You saved me because -"

"Yes, yes I did," he said softly, and then he cut off her words with a kiss that smothered her mouth, and hoped she wouldn't notice his hands were shaking as he slid his hands over her body and then opened up her bathrobe, because he was shaking hard, he was hit by so many emotions at once that he wanted to cry, so kissing with his eyes closed seemed like the best option. He couldn't have the great captain Brooke thinking the brave man from Gallifrey was an emotional cry baby, not at this moment, because she was made of much stronger stuff than him and he admired her for that, too...

Moments later his tie was off, then his jacket, then his shirt was open and between kisses and passionate embraces and impatient touching and hurried shedding of clothing, they exchanged whispered words.

"I need to feel alive," Adelaide told him.

His breath was hot on her neck as he paused to kiss her.

"There's nothing more life affirming than this," he murmured, and then the Doctor took her in his arms and she caught her breath as his impatient movements were almost too much. He held back as long as he could, but it was desperate and passionate and making love to Adelaide Brooke, the woman of legend, was all that filled his mind when he finally lost control.

Then he rested with her, Mars survivor and Time Lord, together on the sofa while the heating and the fire kept out the cold as the snow fell outside, and together they slept until dawn.


When Adelaide woke up, she pulled her bathrobe about herself and remembered the heating had been on all night, then she sat up as horrible images played through her mind of the carnage on Mars. She blinked, pushing aside all that had happened as she focussed her gaze on the man she had spent the night with – the time traveller who had saved her. He stood with his back to her, straightening his tie in the mirror, and then he reached for his coat and slipped it on.

She ran her fingers through her hair and got up.

"Don't say goodbye, then."

The Doctor turned around, looking in surprise to see she was already awake.

"I was going to wake you before I left...Or maybe not. You've been through a lot, you need to get some rest."

"And I need to call my family," she replied, "By now the news will start breaking about the destruction of the base."

"And UNIT will want to speak to you because I was involved," he said, "Tell them everything."

She arched an eyebrow.

"Including the part about you spending the night with me on the sofa?"

He laughed.

"You might want to leave that bit out..."

She stepped closer to him, looking at him fondly as she placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Thank you for stopping me last night. As long as I know Susie's future is safe, I'm happy to carry on living."

"I should go," he said apologetically, "You're going to be tied up with interviews about what happened on the base. It's best if I just go now, let things settle down and then -"

"You'll come back?"

The Doctor smiled.

"I hope so," he replied, and then they shared another kiss, and letting go of her made his hearts ache.

"See you soon," he promised, and then he left the house.

Adelaide watched from the window as he entered his blue box, and then with a wheeze and a groan, the ship faded in and out of sight, and vanished.


As the Tardis shifted peacefully through the inky blackness of space, the Doctor was still thinking on Adelaide Brooke:

He wanted to go back, and he probably would, one day...

But he had been warned of his own death, and for now, all he wanted to do was run and keep running, to live as long as he could before the prophecy came true.

And that was what he did.

The Doctor did not return to Adelaide Brooke, and had no clue how the timeline had been altered because of their night together...