A/N: Hello again. It's me. This is a short one shot that came to me in the middle of the night so I had to write it... not in the middle of the night though. Obviously. If you are wondering about "A Bundle of Memories" then you don't have to wait too long, I know what's happening now and will update shortly. Anyway, enjoy and please review.
Emergency Programme One
Martha stood facing the door in silent shock, remembering the look on the Doctor's face before he slammed out the door. It was guarded and full of hurt. She didn't even know what had happened. He'd been gone a while but when he came back, his eyes were red, as if he'd been rubbing them. He'd walked into the library where she's been reading, grabbed a book off the top shelf then left again. Martha had followed him back to the control room and stopped by the control panel, watching as he pulled on his coat, slipping the book into his pocket.
"Where are you going?" she'd asked.
"Out." He'd replied and that had been that.
Now she stood alone wondering what had happened. She looked around the control room desperately trying to understand what had happened. As she leaned on the console she managed to lean on a couple of buttons that Martha could have sworn weren't there before. An image of the Doctor appeared in front of her.
"This is Emergency Programme One," the image said. "Rose, listen to me… again; this is important. I know you've seen this before so you know what this means but I'll say it again. If this is activated, I'm dead or near dead with no way of escape. The TARDIS is going to take you home and I want you to stay there, Rose Tyler." The holographic Doctor waved his finger at her. "The TARDIS won't come back for me. You know that. That's how it's meant to be so stay!" He held his hand up as if telling a dog to stay."Do you know how hard it is to protect you if you're trying to do the impossible. Okay, granted you've already tried and succeeded… Rose, just… leave the TARDIS on a street corner and let her gather dust. She can't be opened; she'll be left. But Rose, the important thing is that you are safe. I want you to have a 'fantastic life', to quote myself… do it for me. I need to know that however much trouble I'm in, you'll be safe. Anyway, "Have a fantastic life… and Rose, I love you so much. I hope you never have to watch this but I wish I'd had the courage to tell you while I was alive, well… maybe I will…" he looked down at his hand before looking up again. "Just know that, I love you Rose Tyler." The image froze then disappeared.
After a long time Martha put her hand to her face and realised that she'd been crying. The TARDIS felt so large and empty after seeing that hologram. The door opened and she snapped her head up, hurriedly wiping her eyes. The Doctor walked in and stopped when he saw Martha's tear-stained face and the sign on the screen of the TARDIS that said, in the swirly gallifreyian text, 'Emergency Programme One preview'. He walked over to Martha and held her close to him as she cried into his shoulder.
"You… you loved her." She sniffed.
"I still do." He whispered. "I still do."