We'll Always Have 1969

A/N: Kinda a continuation of my oneshot 'Overlooked', but you don't have to read that to understand this. Just know that it takes place after 'Turn Left', and spoilers are included for that episode.

Disclaimer: I make no profit off this, and I don't happen to own the Doctor or anything pertaining to him, although I'd gladly take David.


Despite the fact that she had witnessed the near ending of the world before and lived to tell the tale –or at least talk about it with Jack- Martha Jones couldn't help but be a bit on edge thanks to the current situation she was in. But the UNIT medical officer was good at keeping her cool in tense situations, and tried her best not to squirm as Jack informed her of their impending doom in more detail, elaborating on the vague 'darkness' UNIT had been educated on earlier that day.

Twisting the gold band on her left hand a bit nervously she couldn't help as her thoughts traveled to Tom, and she selfishly wished he had never taken that offer from Doctors Without Borders, that way he wouldn't be away for five long months in remote Africa, but here right next to her, at her side as an apocalypse neared. It was then she fleetingly wondered if whatever this 'darkness' was, the disembodied monster that could turn off the stars, had already reached her fiancée.

Wanting a distraction from even the smallest notion of Tom's demise she dwelled on the affection she had received today. Not that she wasn't used to enthusiastic greetings from various members of the TARDIS crew, but Donna's hug seemed to hold a lot of weight behind it. Looking into the woman's eyes afterwards it was as if something was haunting her, in the way she stared back at Martha, almost as if she were seeing a ghost.

She didn't even want to stray towards thoughts of the Doctor's welcome.

Firmly balling her hands into fists, so tight that she could feel the diamond cut the inside of her palm, Martha focused on the small group of people to her left. Not far away the Doctor stood having the same conversation with Donna, the blonde woman known as Rose Tyler by his side, stoic and unreadable. She had to admit it was quite a shock to finally meet the girl she had always been compared to, and she wasn't entirely sure what to think. She wasn't about to start judging people though in a moment of crisis, but she couldn't help that old familiar twinge of jealousy as the Doctor took her small hand in his.

She knew it was wrong to feel such things, especially when she was an engaged woman, and the man who was supposed to hold her heart was possibly dying in a far off country. But having the Doctor thrust forcefully back into her life once again and with his famous lost companion to boot was more than enough to cause deep buried feelings to resurface. She'd always thought it unfair and ironic that to be a person who carried such an intellectual disposition, she had never been able to control the emotions of her heart properly.

Squeezing her eyes shut in frustration she missed the look of sympathy Jack shot her way, but after a moment to regain composure and take a deep breath the feelings were shoved away again, and the Torchwood leader continued his explanation.

The erratic movement across the room though distracted her once more, and she turned ever so slightly to view the Doctor waving one hand about wildly –his exclamations unheard as she focused her ears on Jack's voice - the other digging madly into the deep pockets of his trench coat. Pulling out random odds and ends Martha nearly forgot to breathe as she recognized one of the items he threw haphazardly onto the table in front of him.

It was just an ordinary purple folder, the contents of which she had never seen, but she knew the meaning behind the simple object. And it was this meaning that had her smiling slightly, and infusing the tiniest bits of hope into her mind.

She remembered the conversation she had had with the Doctor, that now seemed like ages ago, as if it had happened just a moment before. At the time she'd hardly paid any mind to his words, far too distracted by the threat of the Corzac Lizard getting a hold of the nearly hatching Beluvian Red eggs, and by doing so having the whole lot of giant reptiles migrate to Earth and cause the usual destruction and mayhem that followed the Doctor.

But, now she focused on his past dialogue, grasping onto the inanimate thing like a life preserver.

He had said that someday in their future they were going to end up being stuck in 1969. The Doctor hadn't known much but briefly showed her the folder the pretty girl known as Sally Sparrows had given him, rifling through the papers inside, rambling on about Easter eggs, one-sided conversations, angels, and the fact that their stay was for an indeterminate amount of time, which for some reason he found highly inconvenient.

None of it still made the least bit of sense, but there was one thing Martha could almost jump for joy about, even if it was far from a sure thing.

She had yet to make that particular trip to 1969 with the Doctor. Sure they'd seen the moon landing half a dozen times, but she knew that couldn't be the same thing. And even though the Doctor had told her plenty of times before that time can change, she was sure that this wasn't going to be the case. If their sojourn to the era of hippies had been canceled and they were all going to surely be killed, then why would that envelope still exist?

If the future was to be rewritten the plastic folder should be gone, and Martha knew the Doctor didn't have two of those feminine things lying around in his coat willy-nilly. She just knew in her gut that couldn't be true, and felt the deep sense of dread lifting off of her at the discovery.

With the burden lifted, and the prospect of one last waltz through time with the Doctor staring her so blatantly in the face, she inwardly chided herself for ever thinking that they wouldn't get out of this mess. The Doctor had never let her down before, had always pulled through in the end. Even during the year-that-never-was and he had been out of commission sending her off to be his missionary to the world, she may have doubted her own capabilities many of times, but the Doctor had triumphed over the impossible once again.

But this time around the world didn't have to count on her poor imperfect self until the Doctor arrived. She had been good, but she wasn't nearly so compared to him. He was going to be around the whole way through, leading them on to save the world just like he always did. Sure, now seemed rather bad, what with the parallel world jumping and all. Yet, despite it, Martha looked to the future with a happy heart, and anticipated the thought of being trapped in 1969.

She should have been positive from the start.


A/N 2: Well, if you are confused I just want to say this was heavily inspired by the fact that in 'Blink' a time frame is never given as to when Martha and the Doctor's trip to 1969 happened, and it was never mentioned again through out series 3, so I ran with the idea that it was still ahead of them.

Wow, two oneshots in two days. Aren't you readers lucky! I was just so stinkin inspired by 'Turn Left'- even though I really disliked the whole Sliding Doors does Doctor Who episode because the events ate at me- and what may happen next I feel pretty proud of myself, and am really happy with the way this turned out. Hopefully you caught the hints pertaining to 'Overlooked', and if you haven't read that once again I say it's ok, but I would love for you to check it out.

I guess it's obvious I may have a Martha fetish...well not really, but I really do love her character, and I just wanted to write something that put her in a somewhat better light after 'Overlooked' and also gave off a hope that the next two episodes will end well.

Hopefully this tides you over till the end of the week, and please review. I love to know what you think.