Martha Jones walked down the street, smiling in anticipation. When she left her house, she told her husband Mickey that she was just going for a 'girls' night out," leaving him with the impression that she was going to go paint the town red with a few of her girl friends. However, the night out for which she was anxious was much more than an evening of clubbing with her pals. It was a night that she looked forward to every six months because it was a night that she could escape the norm.
Let it be known that the life of Dr. Martha Jones wasn't what anyone else would call the typical 'norm," as she was one of the country's top advisors on the extraterrestrial and the paranormal. She had walked the entire Earth and saved the world but it was rare that she could speak to anyone who would understand her life even nearly as well as she did. Her husband was no stranger to the world she was a part of as he was too was hurled into that world, but he did not seem to fully understand the life of and after effects of being, what some referred to as, a 'companion.' What she desired was 'girl talk,' as she deemed it frivolously in her head.
"Your private room is ready as always. Dr. Jones," said the hostess who greeted Martha upon her entrance to the restaurant.
Martha smiled brightly to her as she led her to the back room, knowing that the girl was suspicious of her. Every six months months for the past two years, she would empty a private dining room for Martha, have the waiter bring in a bottle of champagne, and every time, the hostess would come back into the room after Martha's departure and find two glasses, wondering who the doctor's dining company was and why they never seemed to enter in the front door.
Martha, once alone, sat and poured the champagne into both glasses and as if on cue, a dazzling flash of light illuminated the room for a moment, being replaced by a figure that Martha could only make out by the large assortment of hair through her peripheral vision as she finished pouring champagne into the second glass. She placed the bottle on the table and looked up while smiling, "right on time, Professor. That's a shock."
River Song smiled and gave a curt nod. "On time? Really? And here I was thinking I was going to be late. I had an appointment with my other Doctor."
Martha got up out of her seat and walk toward River as they embraced like old friends. "Good to see you, Dr. Jones," said River.
"And you too, Professor Song."
River sat down in the chair opposite Martha's. "Ah, I see you've tucked in already. Hard week?"
"You've no idea. I really needed this."
"As did I." The two clinked glasses as they sipped.
"So how goes it? I heard you crossed paths with the Apparitions of the Lost Ones recently?"
"Oh yeah," said Martha taking a big gulp. "They're not ones for peaceful negotiation and it didn't help that UNIT must always go in guns a-blazing for situations that don't call for it."
"And that's why they have you. Being freelance means you can go anywhere freely and screw everything up."
The two women laughed.
"I suppose he told you about the Lost Ones." Martha stated, inquisitively.
"He did. You know he keeps tabs on you."
"That's kind of hard to believe."
"What d'you mean?"
Martha took a deep breath. "The last time I saw him, he left me with no other choice but to think the worse had happened. And it did and he died alone. And that wasn't fair. To him or to me. Until you came to me, Mickey and I had no idea what had happened to him and I know he was alone and my heart broke for him."
River placed her glass down and crossed her hands on the table. "Do you remember the note he had me give to you the day of your wedding?"
"Of course I do."
"What did it say?"
"I don't…" Martha began.
"Martha, what it did it say?" River, interjected, demandingly.
"It said 'I apologize. This is the best I can imagine for you, Martha Jones and even still, I know that there is better for you and better that you deserve. You are and always will be a star and that's a fact. I miss you.' And then he asked me to be sure to watch out for Donna."
River poured more champagne into both glasses. "Let's break this down shall we? First and foremost, the Doctor's 'I miss you' wasn't a finite statement. He misses you even now and he will continue to miss you as long as his two hearts beat. You, Sarah Jane Smith, Jamie McCrimmon…all of you and that is a blessing and a curse of the Time Lord. His instruction to you to look out for Donna wasn't just instruction; it was a muffled cry for help. At the time, he was alone and drowning in his solitude after losing her and the only person to whom he could write an S.O.S as decrepit as that was you, the only one of you he could foolishly hope to understand then. He didn't formally say goodbye to you when he regenerated because he doesn't like endings. But he adores happily ever afters," she said as she takes a folded picture out of her pocket and reveals it to be Martha and Mickey's wedding photo to which Martha smiles brightly at.
"He looks at that and smiles so wide whenever he goes into his room of physical memories of his friends. And finally, the Doctor lies, Martha, but he also speaks in truth and it is an absolute truth that you, my dear, are a burning star. Cheers?" River picks up her glass and leans it toward Martha as the other woman does the same.
"Cheers."
Martha gulps and looks intently at River. "River, you always do that."
"Do what?" the archaeologist replied confused.
"Speak of 'us' as if you're not one of us, as if you're just on the outside of the TARDIS looking in. But you just proved that you understand him better than most could hope."
River purses her lips and her eyes droop slightly. "There's always a disconnect, Martha. I love that...impossible man with everything I have and I know he loves me, but you, better than most, should be very aware of the tear in the tether when it comes to him. On paper, I should be perfect for him, no? Part-time Lord, time traveler, not clingy as I have my own adventures and have had my own…companions," she smirks slyly at the last word while Martha giggles. "But the Doctor has seen more than you and I could imagine, he knows more than we could fathom, though in the past we both have been bluntly hit with the realization that though impossible, he is still just a man, there is always, always a disconnect."
"But you're his wife. It's true that the Doctor can never really give everything he has to the people he loves but he married you. I know the story but I also know the Doctor. He married you. The circumstance be damned. And River Song, I know you know his name. Don't try to deny it because I know you know it. And you shouldn't try to deny it any longer; you wear that with pride, as a medal. There is a disconnect and that's inevitable but there is no question about what you mean to the Doctor."
"Well then, I guess we should both stop wallowing about that man then? How's yours?"
"Amazing," says Martha smiling. "I can get him to help me fight an alien slug invasion but I can't get him to paint our bedroom despite how many times he's promised."
"Well that's marriage. My husband has been promising to take me to see the Singing Towers of Dalirium for ages but says he's 'waiting for the right time.'" The two giggle.
"After tonight, who's next on your list?"
"I promised Sarah Jane, she, the kids, and I would go for a walk in the park before I was off and then Ace and I have an exhilarating adventure planned and you know, of course that your Captain Jack Harkness always seems to get me in trouble."
"It's the other way around, let him tell it. I wonder, does the Doctor know you have relationships with his former companions?"
"It's not his business. And why wouldn't I want that? Just the fact that he chose you means that you are definitely people I need to connect with. After all, we're family. Shall we order dinner then?"