So here is the explanation chapter; telling you some of the bits I had to leave out when I rewrote it. Shame, cause I had to miss out some great, funny parts. But oh well! So hope this one's up to scratch. Thanks to my wonderful beta and bestest buddy Ultimate-Who-Fan for all her hard work.
And please review...Or I won't upload and you'll never find out what happens and all the fluff that might follow!
Love you all
Chapter 3- Remembering
Cradling her cold, motionless body against him as if it were the most precious jewel (she was just that in his mind) his brain called back memories of all he'd done to find her. The images flickered behind his eyelids, voices invaded his head.
The look on Martha's face when he had discovered her in the pink room; when he had finally explained about his mysterious Rose, so full of guilt and sadness.
Her ecstatic cries and quick footsteps as she crashed into him, telling him she'd found the way to give him the reunion he'd dreamt of. The Universe's Key. Disbelief had coursed through him at that moment, until the proof had been given and they'd set off with a smile.
How they pair had stumbled blindly into Robin Hood and his threatening (not merry) men; and the way he'd managed to persuade them to help.
Echoes of the words spoken by the local wise woman,
"And you Doctor, Time Lord...The Bad Wolf...Time travellers...The one you never told...The distant Rose." She had awed him beyond belief, with so much knowledge for one born in a time when religion was science.
Splashing about in the stream, casting his eyes over many rocks before he had come to the one inscribed with the map of the keys location. He could almost feel the icy, wetness rising up his legs.
Running from the raided camp to the cave, where they found the Sheriff in possession of the golden key. Oh, he had struggled fiercely in his captors' strong grip, shooting threats at the Sheriff:
"They don't call me the Oncoming Storm for nothing!"
Then the dark, slimy-walled, fetid jail, which they rapidly escaped from with the aid of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver; and soon after the recovery of the key from the Sheriff's coat, as he had left it to attend to the ransacking of his castle by escaped inmates (the Doctor's doing of course.)
Hood, Marian, Martha and he had all escaped in the TARDIS; the shock on their faces when they'd seen it! Priceless!
And the happy farewell given before the two Time Travellers had left: Robin's invitation to return and their half promise to do so.
The Doctor clearly recalled his slow realisation that the gold object in his palm was not the key and they'd gone straight back to the marked cave only to find a set of co-ordinates engraved into the grimy rock: the true key.
Finally he had followed the numerous numbers to a gaping abyss in time and space...A black hold. And with Martha's gentle, encouragement,
"Do it for Rose," he had taken the ultimate leap of faith and sent them both tumbling, head first, into the black hold.
He had done so much; put Martha through uncomfortable and dangerous ordeals, risked people lives, to have his soul mate die in his arms. Yet somehow he could not regret it. He refused to think it had all been in vain. After all, he had said those three, beautiful words to her; he had seen her one more time and held her and comforted her. With no clue about what he should do next, or what the future held, he continued to hug her tight and weep. But he knew if he had to do it all again, just for one, sweet kiss; he would without a second thought.