A random fic that assaulted me while rewatching series. I always thought the Doctor had a very strong reaction to Martha being kidnapped in Gridlock. This is my take on why.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Doctor, Martha, or Rose, or Doctor Who, sadly. If I did, I probably wouldn't be writing possible reasonings behind the Doctor's actions.
The Doctor wasn't powerless this time. He raced through alleyways, chasing after the couple that had abducted Martha, determined to catch up to them. He wouldn't let it happen again. Wouldn't let another person be ripped away from him. Especially if he could do something about it this time.
It wasn't Martha he saw as he followed, though. It was her. He kept seeing her fingers slip as he gave chase. Her blonde hair flying about her panicked face as she was sucked towards the void. Her screams of fear as she pleaded with her eyes for him to do something – anything. But he couldn't. He was completely powerless; if he had tried to save her they would both have ended up sucked into the void. The end of both of them.
But against all odds, a man – the man who was both her father and not – appeared at exactly the right moment to save the girl who was not his daughter, and yet was. The same man who had rejected her and broken her heart after she had reached out to him, searching for the father she had never had and he had never been, had both saved her and doomed her. She was transported to another world. She was alive. And yet, it would almost have been kinder if she had died. The price she payed for her life was captivity in another world. Trapped, never able to see the Doctor again.
He hated himself for what had happened. For sending her away, then for letting her stay. For risking her life time and time again and testing their luck until it finally ran out. For not screaming at her to just let that bloody lever be. Teaching her to sacrifice herself, telling her to trust him, letting her believe that nothing could ever come between them. For not telling her what she meant to him, not being able to bring her back or save her. For being so completely and utterly powerless.
But not this time.
He reached the highway too late, watching the car pull away from the platform and fly into traffic, mixing in with the other vehicles, indistinguishable. Even as he leaned over the railing, screaming Martha's name as the car disappeared in the exhaust fumes, it wasn't over.
Because it wasn't her name his hearts were screaming along with his throat. It was a name that, as the Carrionite had said, still held power. A name that kept him fighting, inspired him above all else. A name he hadn't yet lost, though she was beyond reach.
Rose.
And this time he wouldn't fail. He would find Martha. He would do what he couldn't do for Rose. He had to. He could not lose someone else, not when he was able to help.
He wasn't powerless. Not this time.