"My thief! He needs you, of course he needs you."
Martha had been sleeping peacefully in her room on the TARDIS when that happened. She thought it was just a dream, especially when the voice said, "The Doctor stole me? That's what you wanted to ask. I stole him. And he stole me. He's my thief."
Martha was extremely confused now. What a strange dream. She opened her eyes slowly, and realized the voice was still there. It was a woman's voice, and it sounded so familiar, but she couldn't figure out why.
The voice said, "You know me. We travel together. Now go, help my thief!"
It took Martha a few seconds before she said, "The TARDIS?"
"Ah yes. Time and Relative Dimension in Space. That's me. I'm the TARDIS."
"But—"
"I couldn't use my usual method of communication. You wouldn't have woken up. Now go."
It was then that Martha registered that the TARDIS had told her that The Doctor was in trouble, and she was out of bed in a flash.
The TARDIS guided her to the right door and when she got there, she could hear what sounded like muffled crying.
She pushed the door open quietly, so as not to startle him, but found that she needn't have worried. He was still asleep—though he clearly wasn't sleeping well. He turned his head to the side and Martha could hear him repeating her name. "I'll save you!" He whimpered in his sleep. He turned on his side as he tried to reach for her.
Martha stood in the doorway with a worried frown on her face. "Doctor, I'm safe," she said, trying to reassure him. She watched as his face seemed to crumple in his sleep. Moving closer to the bed, Martha touched his shoulder gently. "Doctor, it's okay. It's just a nightmare."
The Doctor recoiled from her touch. "I couldn't—Mrs. Jones—" His eyes were still shut and Martha tilted her head. She expected him to wake up at that touch. Maybe kick her out of his room. Now, she was worried. What if that sun had done some damage to him?
"My mother what?" Martha climbed into the bed and ran her fingers through the Doctor's hair soothingly, like her mother used to do. "Doctor, just wake up, all right? I'm fine. We're both safe and sound."
He seemed to relax with her running her fingers through his hair so she continued to do it. His forehead was soaked with sweat, which was worrying since she knew his core body temperature was cooler than the average human. Had the sun done any lasting damage?
She squeaked in surprise when a pair of long arms snaked around her. The Doctor's eyes were open and he was looking at her in relief. "You're alive," he breathed.
"Yes, I am. You were having a nightmare," Martha replied with a small smile.
The Doctor let out a sigh of relief and hugged her close. "You're alive," he mumbled again.
Martha tentatively reached up to run her fingers through his hair again. He relaxed against her as she did so. "Want to talk about it?" She asked quietly.
The Doctor didn't reply but relaxed as Martha's fingers worked their magic. He didn't want to tell her anything. He would prefer to think about something else—anything else.
As if she knew what he was thinking, Martha said, "How about I tell you why I'm becoming a doctor?" She planned on getting him to talk but for now, she would distract him.
She looked to see his brown eyes staring up at her. "Sure."
Martha smiled at him as she continued to run her fingers through his hair. "It all started when I was six and Leo and I were playing." Her eyes drifted as she recalled the memory. The Doctor studied his companion as she told him about how she'd fallen out of a tree and broken her arm. He could tell that, despite the pain associated with the broken arm, she treasured that memory. She had looked at her x-rays at the doctor's office and had been absolutely fascinated by them. She had asked her doctor lots of questions that day—and from that day on, she was dead set on becoming a doctor.
The Doctor knew his companion would make a wonderful doctor. She was compassionate and attentive and was always taking care of him and the people they encountered. He remembered the first day he met her. She had assured him that she would find a way out of this mess and hadn't lost her head once. He was kicking himself for how he treated her after that.
This nightmare of his though—as terrifying as it was, it was a wake-up call for him. He truly didcare about Martha and he didn't know what he'd do without her.
Very quietly, he said, "I... had a nightmare." He looked up at Martha and saw her nodding at him to continue. "I didn't save you. I couldn't save you and I had to tell your mother why her daughter wasn't coming home."
Martha saw tears welling up in eyes again and it broke her heart. She leaned down to kiss his forehead. "I'm all right. I promise."
The Doctor rested his head against her shoulder. He was still trying to process his nightmare. It had felt so real. But Martha was here. She was alive and she was here with him.
"Want me to stay with you?" Martha asked quietly. Even if he said no, she would insist on staying anyway.
He nodded and moved to lie back down in the middle of the bed. Martha curled up next to him and rested her head on his chest, pleased to hear that his heartbeats were back to normal.
The Doctor wrapped his arm around her and held her tightly as he drifted off to sleep with a mumbled, "Thank you" to his companion.
She smiled before she drifted off too.
Neither one of them noticed the happy hum of the TARDIS. She was happy for her beautiful idiot and his doctor.
A/N: Hello Pretty! Yes, you're all "Pretty" now. Well, um... yeah, this idea just popped into my head and I decided now was a good time to start writing for the DW fandom. Ten/Martha is my OTP of OTPs and there have been quite a few fics about the aftermath of "42" for Martha but I've never seen one for The Doctor, so hope I did okay. I'd like to thank the lovely Hoshi Gin Tsukino for writing a fair amount of this fic. I just took what she wrote and modified it and added to it. Oh, and the title is a song by Social Distortion.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Doctor Who. I wish I did, but I don't. Social Distortion owns the title.
