Wow this is the first time I've posted a Doctor Who fic so tell me what you think.:) I know this is long for a one-shot but oh well. I tried to portray Martha realistically but I'm not sure what to think, so I need your opinion. Obviously you can tell from my pen name I'm a star wars fan, but I'm going through a huge Doctor Who obsession. Please review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.
Martha was sitting in the console room with the Doctor quietly watching him work with the TARDIS. It seemed like that was all he was ever doing. She never saw him sleep and he never seemed like one to talk conversationally. It was odd really, she mused as the Doctor kicked the console in frustration, he gabbed on and on if it were about physics or Time, but when it came to just conversing with her he was silent.
Deep down Martha wondered if he'd talked, really talked with Rose, Probably did, she said silently, with a tinge of jealousy.
What could have possibly possessed Rose to leave such a wonderful, brilliant, good-looking man like the Doctor? And why wouldn't he just move on? Didn't he care at all about her, Martha Jones, a girl who was here right now, with him?
Trying to distract herself from this train of thought she made an attempt at conversation by asking the Doctor something that had been on her mind for two weeks, ever since they'd left that living sun.
"Doctor," she said to get his attention. He looked up from his work a bit startled. "Hm? Oh, what?"
Her voice was filled with curiosity as she spoke. "A couple weeks ago on that space ship, you said that there was . . ." she paused as she tried to recall his words. "This thing that happens to you right before you die. What is it?" Martha thought the Doctor looked a bit surprised at the question as ran his hand through his amazing brown hair.
"Oh yes, that. Weeeeell, there's not much point in it now is there? I'm fine, you're fine, no chance of it happening now, so, let's see, where do you want to go next? Do you want to see Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? He's just brilliant, you'd love him."
Martha sighed. This was how he always was. He never let anyone in. Ever. Every time she tried to get him to talk to her just brushed her off, but not this time. "Doctor!" she said with a raised voice to stop him from rambling. "Please, tell me. You are amazing and brave and clever, but you attract trouble like a magnet. Tell me. Don't you think I should know these things?"
To her relief the Doctor sighed. "It's a thing my people do to . . . skirt around death," he began bluntly. "it's called regeneration." Martha stared at him dubiously so he continued. "The body dies along with this personality and is replace with another," he said easily, but Martha thought it bothered him more than he let on.
Martha was thoroughly confused. It was . . . impossible wasn't it? His body was replaced? And his personality?
"What do you mean, replaced?" Replaced how?"
"Regeneration is . . . complicated," he admitted. "In simplest terms, my body, my current body that is, appears to explode in energy and it . . . morphs into another body.
Martha looked at him with amazement as if she were expecting him to burst into flames.
"This is all second hand information of course," he said seeing his companion's expression, "I got all this from Rose. She was there when I regenerated into this body. It's probably why I'm the way I am. She was all I was thinking of at the time.
"She saved my life," he said wistfully, "If it weren't for her I'd be completely dead, not just this body. She was terrified at first when she first saw me like this. Thought I'd been kidnapped, didn't help that the regeneration went a bit wrong. Poor girl, she thought I'd left her. But we still saved the world that day. All it took was a cuppa tea," he said fondly. He turned to Martha. "You saw that, didn't you? The people on the roof?"
Martha knew he was connected to some extraterrestrial activity, but that was huge! People were talking about it for months. People were still talking about it! He'd saved them . . . with Rose. Why was it always Rose? And what did he mean she was the reason he was him?
The Doctor was still talking, but this time it just hurt too much. "Why do you love her so much?" Martha asked maybe a bit too harshly.
As soon as she'd said it the Doctor froze and a pained expression came over his face she knew she'd stepped over some kind of line, but another part of her hoped he'd deny loving Rose. What was that girl anyways, some kind of goddess?
For a few seconds he didn't say anything, he just wore a sad expression on his face that made Martha want to talk to Rose and give her a piece of her mind. How dare that girl leave the Doctor!
And the thing that amazed her the most was that Rose left the Doctor and yet he still loved her. "I'm sorry," she said softly. When he didn't respond she turned and left the console room. Before she could leave, though the Doctor turned to her.
"I met Rose right after the Time War. My last body was broken. Emotionally, I mean. I'd just lost all my people. I was- I was the reason they died. I was a mass murderer with big ears and nose and lots of pain and anger and guilt, but she was still there for me. Always. She was prepared to die for me. She healed me. She trusted me no matter what I did. She was," he paused and shook his head mournfully. "She is brilliant." And with that Martha nodded speechlessly and walked out of the room.
As she left the Doctor whispered, "My pink and yellow human. If there is one thing in all the universes that I believe in I believe in you, Rose Tyler, whether I wear leather, or pinstripes, or anything else, I believe in you."