The Hand That Rocks The Cradle
Summary: Set after The Lazarus Experiment. After an accident involving the Doctor and some faulty LazLabs machinery turns him into a baby, Martha and Jack have to find a way to reverse the change.
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, just an insane imagination. And a love of chocolate…
A/N: Unlike a lot of my current fics, there will be no TenMartha here. However, there may be some hints of MarthaJack, and just the tiniest amount of TenRose.
Prologue
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"Doctor?" Martha watched as he wandered around the console room.
"Hmm?"
"I was wondering… could I go and see my family? Not, like, travelling or anything, just wanna make sure they're all safe."
"Course."
"Will you wait for me?"
"Yep." Martha nodded gratefully.
"Be back in a few."
0-0-0
The Doctor looked up as Martha entered the TARDIS.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah." she replied, distracted. He turned to her.
"You sure? 'Cos if you want…"
"No, it's fine." Martha sighed. "My Mum… well, she doesn't like you."
"I guessed." The Doctor muttered, rubbing his cheek where Francine had slapped him.
"She went a bit mental when I went back- said some weird things about you being, well, not all you seem to be."
"Never was. Nobody ever is." The Doctor retorted. "Anyway, I want to go back to the labs. I think the machinery went bust when I tampered with the capsule, but I'm not, you know, one hundred per cent sure. So I'm going to go back and have a bit of a poke round, that alright with you?"
"Course. As long as I can come too."
"Martha- if anything is still active, well, it could be dangerous…"
"So was that thing earlier. So were the witches, and the Macra." The Doctor had to admit she had a point.
"Alright, alright. You can come." He told her, exasperated, as he shrugged on his coat. Martha, as usual, was slightly hard-pressed to keep up with his long strides as he re-entered the damaged building. It was eerie, lights flickering in the remains of the machinery, which the Doctor quickly scanned.
"Is it…?" Martha asked as he frowned.
"Screwdriver's picking something up from the capsule. Stay here." He picked his way past the tables and wires scattered over the floor. Martha, obedient for once, watched as he stepped up to the tall blue-white cylinder.
"What is it?" She asked, but before any answer could come, she was half-blinded by a flash of blue light. She heard the Doctor scream as she shielded her eyes. "DOCTOR!" she called. The light faded and she hurried over to where her friend had been. 'Had' being the optimal word. Where the Doctor had been standing seconds before, his clothes now lay in a heap. As Martha knelt beside them, she heard a small whimper from somewhere within the pile. "Doctor?"
A tiny fist reached out of the shirt collar. It was chubby, almost like…
"Oh you have got to be kidding me…" Martha breathed, reaching out her hands. As she lifted the shirt, she noticed the lump within, which she gently removed to find… "Doctor?"
A baby, chubby and brown-haired lay in her lap. It looked up at her, frowning slightly as she bent her head over it. Suddenly, it stretched out a hand to touch her forehead. In the torrent of memories that followed, she vaguely heard the Doctor's voice as she passed out.
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When she woke up, she was still lying amidst the machinery. The baby lay in her lap, looking at her with huge brown eyes. "It is you…" She gasped, the memory wave of earlier finally beginning to sort itself out. Images raced through her mind: a breathtaking orange planet, with snow-capped peaks surrounding a majestic citadel; a gaping, swirling vortex of sheer, indescribable power; monsters, worse than every child's nightmare; the planets burning, people screaming, dying; a young woman falling into Hell as she looked on, helplessly screaming her name; a boy, standing solemnly as his last seconds ticked away…
The emotions caught up with her and her body shook with sobs. When she could see through her tears, she saw the baby looking at her concernedly. "Oh Doctor, it is you!" she breathed, gasping for breath amidst the torrent of newborn, yet somehow age-old, conflict in her mind. She gathered the infant Doctor in her arms, looking down at him. She recalled something from her studies: "You don't remember, do you? You gave it to me so I could keep it for you, you can't keep those memories until you're older." the Doctor yawned, then shivered, making Martha finally realise his lack of clothing. She looked around for something to wrap him in, finally deciding on his old clothes. Even if he couldn't wear them properly, it would at least keep him warm until she found something else.
0-0-0
Martha stepped inside the TARDIS. It had been tricky, trying to unlock the door while she tried to hold the Doctor safely, but the TARDIS seemed to have sensed her difficulty, and had kindly opened up for her. Gone were any illusions that it was simply a machine: her 'new' memories told her how much more it was and she smiled around at the console room before hurrying on through the door to find some decent baby wear. She had momentarily thought of asking her mother, but having seen how much Francine disliked her new friend, Martha had decided to try her chances with the TARDIS. The ship had obviously decided to continue in its current helpful vein, as the first room Martha came to was stuffed with baby toys and clothes. Having dressed the Doctor in a decently-sized sleepsuit and nappy and arming him with a rattle (she had found and removed the sonic screwdriver from his coat, not trusting his baby self to keep away from it), she carried him out in search of a cot, as her arms were beginning to tire. She strode across the hallway to the nearest door, which turned out to be her room, newly equipped with a cradle and changing table.
"Oh, you are joking!" Martha cried to the TARDIS at large "Not in my room!" The ancient engines reverberated in a way that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle and Martha knew that she would not find anything like a cradle, or changing table, anywhere else. She sighed, placing the Doctor in the cradle which stood next to the bed. As she began to rock the cradle gently, she looked down at the baby within. "Don't you dare fill that nappy when I'm asleep!" The Doctor blinked up at her uncomprehendingly and she gave another sigh. The gentle rocking was rather soothing, the TARDIS had begun to play a lullaby which crept soothingly through the room. Martha realised she was rather tired and before she knew it, her head was resting against the wall and she, like the Doctor, was fast asleep.
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It only felt like a few minutes before a piercing wail shrieked through her ears, waking her in an instant. She looked down to see the Doctor writhing in the cradle and as she bent down to see what was wrong, the problem made itself known.
"Urgh." Martha groaned "What did I say about doing that?" She asked the Doctor, who continued to wail and thrash. As Martha lifted him, he calmed and she carried him over to the changing table. Placing him on it, she grabbed the nappy bag that had somehow appeared at the side and pulled one out. The humour of the situation did not escape her and she looked down at the baby on the table. "Bet you never thought this would happen when you picked me up!" her grin did not entirely fade as she set to work.
Minutes later, the Doctor was cradled in Martha's arms, dressed in a fresh baby suit and nappy and gurgling contentedly as she set off for the kitchen. She had watched the midwives at the hospital often enough to be just able to remember how to hold a baby in one arm (the situation getting in yesterday had been due to the lack of grip afforded by the too-big clothes) as she found a bottle and some milk. She warmed it for a few minutes, absently rocking the Doctor as she waited for the microwave, then fed it to him. The feeding over, she held him so that his head was resting on her shoulder and began rubbing his back, remembering that any gas trapped in his stomach could cause him pain. That is, a human baby would feel pain. Who knew what the Doctor would feel- if he even had a stomach, anyway…
After a while, his breathing quietened and she knew he was asleep. She gently carried him back to the cradle and tucked him in.
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A/N What do you think? Please review- constructive criticism is welcome as I rarely write non-angst fics. Flames will be used to toast marshmallows and all other reviewers will be hugged. In a virtual, non-contact way, of course… I had just seen my friend's new nephew for the first time when I wrote this, so any 'baby Doctor' descriptions were based on him.