Rose. She seemed to be haunting him. Everywhere they went reminded him of her. God he missed her, more than he thought he would ever miss a companion. Rose had never been just a companion he knew, she was more than that. He knew, had known for a long time that he loved her, since the moment she proved herself to be smarter than the average ape. The moment he'd saved her life. It was getting worse and worse. The longer he was apart from her the worse it got. He finally got better when Donna and Emma began traveling with him. Emma knew exactly what to say to him to make him change his mind, to convince him to make the right choice. And Donna, she was good for keeping his ego in check. She could knock him down when he needed it. Of the two, often Emma's way of doing things, of convincing him was more effective, because she was right, but the things she said hurt. He knew she could see that they hurt. She would look almost as if she would rather be doing something, anything else than using his faults, his ideals, his history against him. The thing that hurt more than what she said, was the emotions in her eyes. It was so clear to him, that she was worried or angry or shocked, but when she had to use her words against him, he saw disappointment, disbelief, betrayal and sadness. He hated that he had done something to cause her to lose her faith or trust in him, in what they did. He worked so very hard to make the right decisions, to do the right things. He had become bitter after Rose, unfeeling and uncaring. Emma especially seemed hellbent on making him feel something even if it was guilt or grief or anger. It took him awhile to settle in around her because she was so like Rose, trying to heal his wounds, not worrying about her own. She was so selfless and he wished he could be the same. There were dreams sometimes, of Emma and Rose together, always they were friends, always with him. There were times he wished so badly to have Rose with him, but as he grew closer to Emma, he thought of Rose, less and less often. It honestly scared him some. And then Emma found a picture. Rose was lying on him and he looked so serious, but Emma had looked into his eyes.
"Who is she? I can tell you love her."
"Her name is Rose. She's human, and she's gone."
"What was she like?" Her honestly curious expression made him cave and he began with the story.
"There she was, all yellow and pink. I took her hand and said one word. Run." He spoke as if he loved her still, and it made Emma smile sadly. He told her the entire story of Rose Tyler from the beginning to the very heartbreakingly sad end. Emma stopped to ask questions and giggled sometimes. She looked disapproving when he had mentioned inviting Mickey onboard and had swatted him over the head. It took days for him to tell her. They went on another adventure only to have Emma storm in halfway through the presentation and effectively end Ood slavery. She started accusing Mr. Halpen of quite horrible things. She was angrier than she had been in Pompeii when that shopkeeper sold the Tardis and she had been livid then. She was yelling at the man who was paling steadily.
"You've been forcing them into slavery!"
"They were made for it!"
"MADE FOR IT?!" Emma thundered. "They're born with their brains in their hands you stupid ape! You cut off their brains, stitch on a translator! They're born being vulnerable and you take advantage, you make me sick!" Emma showed them the unprocessed Ood and then they saved the Ood brain from Mr. Halpen.
"The message has gone out. That song resonated across the galaxies, everyone heard it. Everyone knows. The rockets are bringing them back. The Ood are coming home." The Doctor said, an arm thrown over Emma's shoulders.
"We thank you, Doctor, Donna, Emma. Friends of Oodkind. And what of you now? Will you stay? There is room in the song for you." Ood Sigma asked.
"Oh, I've... sort of got a song of my own, thanks." He said scratching the back of his head.
"I think your song must end soon." The Ood said looking at the Doctor and Emma.
"Meaning?"
"Every song must end." For only then can another begin.
"I can't believe I'm doing this!" Donna yelled excitedly.
"No, neither can I. Oh oh, careful! Left hand down, left hand down!" He shouted. Emma slammed the lever down just in time. "Getting a bit too close to the 1980s."
"What am I going to do, put a dent in 'em?" Donna said, completely sarcastic.
"Well someone did." A cell phone rang and all three froze before Emma reached forward and passed the phone to the Doctor. He looked interested by what was being said. Emma managed to avoid a supernova, knocking Donna out of the way in her efforts. Emma was dashing around the console, Donna trying to get out of her way. Emma tripped over Donna's strategically placed foot and crashed into the Doctor. The Tardis took that moment tilt wildly sideways before landing, sending both the Doctor and Emma flying out the doors. The Doctor landed on his back, Emma on his chest. She was blushing bright red and stammering apologies. They heard both Donna and Martha burst into laughter. Emma climbed off the Doctor who was blushing, but still grinning at Emma.
"Who was driving?" Martha asked chuckling. Emma blushed and Martha's eyes widened.
"He let you..."
"Er...he was busy, and there was a supernova and well...yeah." The Doctor looked proud.
"Emma, that was brilliant!" He scooped her into a giant hug before rushing to Martha to hug her too.
"So, what's up?" Emma asked. Martha gave the girl a look.
"We have a bit of a situation." Martha said delicately before raising a radio and speaking into it. They watched as UNIT swept over the factory before them.
"Is that what you did to her? Turned her into a soldier?" Donna asked him. Emma visibly winced, briefly drawing the Doctor's attention.
"I was a soldier once Donna." Emma said. All three turned to stare at her in shock.
"You..." Donna didn't finish as Martha put a hand on her shoulder in understanding.
"Some of us have got to stay behind. So we've got to work from the inside. And by staying inside maybe we stand a chance of making them better." Martha said softly. Emma nodded and took a deep breath. They were lead to the mobile command center where the Doctor balked at getting a salute.
"I've read all the files on you. Technically speaking, you're still on staff. You never resigned." Colonel Mace said.
"What, you used to work for them?" Donna asked, clearly not expecting the answer.
"Yeah, long time ago. Back in the seventies. Or was it the eighties? But it was all a bit more homespun back then." Emma was studying something she probably wasn't supposed to be, making the Doctor grin. Donna was busy yelling about the way the workers were being treated. Martha had him looking at the Atmos device. Emma peered over his shoulder and gasped. She snatched it up and soon had it disassembled. She was frowning down at a vial. She proved her point, breaking the vial and dropping it into a mouse's cage. The mouse died and she lit a match, dropping it in. The gas caught fire and burned up. The Doctor was giving Emma a strange look. Realization dawned on him, visible on his face.
"You've seen this before." He realized. Emma nodded stiffly. She had noticed something odd about Martha. She'd disappeared at one point and came back acting strangely. Emma silently crept down an abandoned hall. Two men stood guard over a room. Emma took a great breath and allowed a tiny trendle of gold light escape her fingertips. It wound toward the men, who were both knocked unconscious. Emma hurried forward into the room and gasped. Martha was hooked to a machine of complex wires and electrodes. Emma rushed forward and carefully untangled her. She caught Martha and dragged her back. Elsewhere, the Martha duplicate fell into a puddle of white goop. The real Martha started awake, clawing at Emma, who tried to shush her. She froze, recognizing Emma. Emma pulled her sweater dress off, leaving herself in a tank top and leggings. Martha pulled it over herself and Emma attempted to get her out. A screen fuzzed and a potato like creature appeared.
"Halt intruder!" Emma sighed and turned, gold eyes flashing. The creature looked at her oddly.
"You're something different." Emma grinned ferally.
"I am." She slashed a hand and gold exploded and she made her escape with Martha hobbling slowly beside her. When they entered the main hanger, guns were immediately trained on them.
"Put that down!" Emma snapped, go find a doctor, not the Doctor. Miss Jones needs to be examined for injuries." The private sputtered, but did what she said. The doctor arrived before the Doctor and Donna did. He looked relieved to see them both. He hugged Martha and then hugged Emma to him tightly. She was whispering something, obviously not good news. The Doctor glowered, and decided it was high time to visit the inventor of Atmos. He, Emma and a soldier named Ross went. Luke Rattigan was expecting them. While they traded insults, Emma and Ross sighed.
"Oi!" Emma finally called. They both shut up.
"If you two are done comparing IQs?" Luke smirked at the Doctor, but Emma towered over him.
"I said enough. Now what is this? Looks like a...no..." She whirled on Luke. "What have you done?" Luke's smile dropped into confusion as did the Doctor. Ross seemed like he was starting to understand. "Great big brains, the both of you, and neither of you can see what's wrong?"
"What?"
"Oh, I should have known! Sontaran technology Doctor! Sontaran!" It was a mad dash back to UNIT. They had to lose the jeep, and run the rest of the way. It had already started, the poison gas filtering everywhere. It was wrecking havoc on even the Doctor's lungs. And then the massacre. Poor Ross, brilliant Ross died because Mace was too stubborn to pull back. The Doctor was furious, yelling at Mace, and then Martha had an idea.
"Doctor, the Valiant. You can use it to clear the air over UNIT." He grinned at his former companion.
"And there are weapons on-board." Emma smacked her forehead.
"I got it!" She cried, waving paper around delightedly. " the gas, the 10% we couldn't identify, it's Caesofine concentrate. Clonefeed. It's clonefeed!" The Doctor's eyes lit up.
"Ooh. Oh, oh, oh. I got it! Atmospheric converter. At Rattigans!" The Doctor said. And the Doctor noticed, Emma and the Tardis were gone. Martha's phone rang.
"Make them mad." And then she hung up. The Doctor grinned excitedly and that worried Martha and Donna both.
In the end it was Luke Rattigan that destroyed the Sontaran ship. Emma was slightly upset about it too. While the Doctor helped cleanup, she got started on prep work. She handed the letter off to Wilfred to send after the Earth was stolen. She made sure her identity was foolproof and then she gathered her stuff, moving it to where she was staying. She made sure nothing would remind her until the end.
Martha came to say goodbye, hugging all three of them. And Emma felt the Tardis begin to move. Something was happening. They were all tossed around and Martha was yelling at the Doctor unnecessarily.
