Drops of Jupiter
Summary: As Martha laid dying in the American West, she noticed something odd. Something that makes the Clades' "Unknown" reading proves true. What does that mean for the Doctor and herself? [Eventual Doctor/Martha]
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.
A/N: This takes place after Human Nature/Family of Blood (1913, TV) and during the novel 'Peacemaker'. AU seasons thereafter.
If you've read Peacemaker no need to read the italic part, that's me giving a run through of what happened before the opening scene. (Not a great run through at that lol)
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with it. -W. Somerset Maugham
Chapter 1
It had started with the Doctor wanting to take Martha to see a movie. A way of apologizing for the things that happened in 1913. "It has intelligent seats! The kind that mold to your comfort zones! Not enough to make you snooze during the good parts though." The Doctor had raved, telling her about his favorite movie spot. Then he asked what she had wanted to see, "they have everything here! Pirates of the Caribbean VI? The Starship Brilliant? Casablanca?" He fired at her. She told him she wanted to see a Western, because those were the types of movies she used to watch with her family when she was younger. Honestly, Martha had felt rather homesick when she had requested that genre.
Martha should have known when the box office was closed that the day wouldn't go right.
When the Doctor decided they would go to the Wild West, she should have known danger was around the corner.
After landing in Redwater, it had been surprising to run into Jenny Forest, a teacher from the local school. Miss Forest was a well-meaning woman that expressed her distrust of a traveling snake oil dealer that had stopped by with a supposed cure for the smallpox going around. A cure, that Martha had been sure never existed at that time.
Two deceased Western outlaws had their bodies used by two alien guns as hosts. Clades, the Doctor had called them. They had entered the town of Redwater and shot two of residents- the current Sheriff and Jenny. The Doctor and Martha managed to save the teacher with the help from a New Earth medkit and good ole CPR.
Clades were gun modules created and perfected for war. Their creators used them to end a war quickly; their efficiency scared off any potential threats. In their solitude, they waited and plotted. They were currently acting as hired mercenaries after destroying their own creators from boredom. Everywhere Clades went, they left total devastation earning the name 'Peacemaker'. The Doctor had witnessed their devastation first hand and he never approved of it. He had taken the time to clear out the refugees before the Clades could finish their destruction on another planet.
The Clades were looking for a snake-oil dealer; one they believed had their Command Unit, a man named Alvin Godlove. Of course, the time travelers had to get to the Command Unit first. The Doctor threw them off with false information before getting directions to the right town after the hostile aliens left. Martha, the Doctor and the Sheriff's son, Nathan, headed to the town of Ironhill the last known location of the Alvin Godlove.
In Ironhill, our heroes separated to find Godlove. Godlove and his partner had started to leave town because they thought the Doctor was a Marshall, a confusion that led to the Doctor being in a stand-off. The stand-off ended with him scaring off the Lyles Brothers, a trio that went after him because of Alvin. The gunshots had drawn Martha's attention, especially when Nathan labeled the gun's model without seeing them. They had left Alvin's cart to find the Doctor.
Martha remembered stepping up to defend the town of Ironhill from the Clades. They had every intention of destroying the town and everything within 100 meters in all directions after leaving. Something she couldn't allow. Martha kept them talking until the Doctor arrived on the scene with Walking Crow. "I'll take over from here." He informed his companion.
"Gladly." She had replied, stepping back. Martha had put on a brave face to save the town, but she knew the Doctor was better at intimidating their enemies.
The Clades hadn't been impressed with the Doctor's attempts to scare them away. They knew he was the last of his race. The Time Lords when alive had been formidable, but now it was all just legend in some places. One of the Clades decided the best way to get the Doctor's cooperation was to have him chose- life or death, before shooting Martha.
Martha didn't remember what happened much; she knew she had coaxed Walking Crow into telling her where Godlove was hiding. Then she heard a shout before pain registered in her mind. It happened in slow motion; Martha the medical student had categorized a GSW (Gun Shot Wound) while Martha the victim felt pain and the ground as she landed. A cry of pain was all she managed before she hit the ground. The Doctor ran to her side and held her by the shoulders. He was talking to her, telling her she wasn't going to die before asking if she trusted him.
It had to be the silliest question he ever asked her. She trusted him. He smiled at her, told her to hold on...that she was the strongest person he knew.
Martha stared up, at the spiky brown hair blocking her vision. "I feel cold." She told him, "That's shock. I'm going into shock."
"It's just a breeze," The Doctor tried to assure her.
Martha didn't believe him for one second. "Liar." She touched her frayed jacket and complained that it was ruined. The Doctor reassured her that he would get it fix, that he would fix her.
She pulled on his lapel, pulling him closer. "Doctor...I have to tell you..." Martha had to tell him what the Native American said. The Clades were watching the scene, waiting for the Doctor to decide what he was going to do.
The Doctor shook his head, "No shh..." He didn't want to hear that kind of speech. Not right now. Not here, not when he could still save her.
"Always thinking it's about you..." Martha teased him quietly despite being on the verge of losing consciousness. "Walking Crow, he knows where Alvin is...a Mining Shaft, Doctor..." She blacked out after that point.
Martha could feel blood seeping through her makeshift bandage. The Clades' gun had left her with a wound that wouldn't close and a very determined Doctor. It was only an alien gunshot wound and she ignored the pain that she felt from it as much as possible. She didn't want to worry the Doctor any more than he already was.
The Clades had to be stopped. Yet each step they took caused her more pain. Nathan and the Doctor supporting her was the only reason she could move her legs. Her death was nothing compared to saving the Wild American West. If they weren't stopped her time might not even exist to begin with. Despite detaching herself from the situation as much as possible, she felt odd.
Like there was some energy building up inside of her.
It was a new sensation…
"Miss Martha, are you awake?" The former Sheriff's son, Nathan, asked her. He was taking care of her while the Doctor tried to negotiate with the Clade unit capable of healing her. She tried to force herself to pay attention to the conversation. Everything blurred from there because of the pain. She knew things were happening and she remembered Nathan checking on her again. That new sensation was stronger.
It threatened to overwhelm her.
"You have to heal Martha." The Clade unit seemed to think saving the life of some human was worth gaining a Time Lord mind and body. Nathan had no clue what was really happening, but Martha did. The Doctor had told her to hold on, she had placed her life in his hands and in response he was sacrificing himself!
"No!" Martha protested. Then the sensation gave her the strength to look at the Doctor. "I'm not worth it!" All of time and space needed him! The determined look on his face hadn't wavered, not even when Martha's breathing slowed down dangerously.
The Doctor looked over at her, as he picked up the Clade gun. "I'm sorry Martha Jones." What he was sorry for, no one found out. In that moment something happened- Martha's hands started glowing gold. A very familiar gold light to the Doctor.
"Doctor?!" She cried out alarmed. Nathan was kneeling close to her.
He swallowed thickly, not knowing what to say. "Martha! Nathan move now!" The Sheriff's son hesitated before moving away, just as the rest of her body was engulfed in the light. Nathan turned his head as the light became too bright in the dark mining shaft.
The Doctor's eyes widen as the Clade unit attached itself to him.
How?
His companion was human!
His Martha Jones was no Time Lord!
Yet, that light!
It was her regenerating!
The light died down and Martha laid there for a minute, before sitting up. The Doctor knew he was relieved that Martha was alive. He never would've been able to properly explain to Mrs. Jones how her daughter died. How right the woman was about him being a danger.
Oh, but this regenerating thing? It was new. She looked the same as before excluding a few minor details. Her eyes were hazel and her hair was a few inches longer.
Other than that, she looked like Martha Jones.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Silver: Let's see…A slight teaser of something laying about my hard drive...and it definitely ends Doctor/Martha in my head.
In regards to the summary: The Clades scanned Martha (much like the Judoons in Smith and Jones), the reading didn't comeback as human but as "Unknown" which inspired this...(and no the Doctor had not performed any genetic transfers before the Clades scanned her).
