What? WHAT?! Two chapters in one day? I'm on a roll...

Disclaimer: Same as the other 3 chapters. Enjoy and Review!

It All Falls Down

She awoke on the examination table, which was, she decided, not meant for more than one person. The warm body underneath her tossed and turned and sweated under her palm. Martha sat up and shook the nameless man until he woke up, wide-eyed and frightened. She led him, still in the haze of his nightmare, to her bedroom and laid him down. Turning off all of the lights except for one, Martha climbed into bed, covered them with her blankets, and cradled his head as he cried into her breast. He sobbed like a child and she knew that there was little else she could do for him.

She wasn't sure how long they stayed that way, but she continued to stroke his hair and rock him gently. He'd long since gone silent, so when he spoke, it came as a surprise.

"He's going to leave me with her." He said, his voice quiet and raspy from his spent emotions.

"What? Leave you where? With who?"

"Rose. I'm sure you figured out by now how she got here. And how they got here. She's obviously too dangerous to stay here. And, in his mind, so am I."

She figured that however Rose had gotten here had led the Daleks here as well. Through talking to her, however briefly, she learned about the stars going out, the other dimensions collapsing and, subsequently, the dimension canon. Through her travels with the Doctor, Torchwood, and Unit, she knew about the non- linear relationship of cause to effect. Rose blasting holes through the dimensions could have definitely been the cause of the trans-dimensional collapse, making it easy for Davros and the Daleks to breach the Time Lock.

"You don't know that. You saved this world. You're not a danger to it. Why do you think he'd exile you?"

"Because I have his mind. I am him. And it's what he'd- what I'd do. Besides, it's not your world that I'm a threat to. It's his."

She didn't' understand the last part of his statement, but she didn't push. When he finally fell back asleep, she crept out of bed, grabbed her dressing gown and made her way to the kitchen.

She always lost her perception of time in the TARDIS, but the smell of coffee let her know it was sometime around 8:00 am, relative time.

When she reached the kitchen, the Doctor was in the same position she'd seen him in the night before, nursing tea instead of wine. He hadn't slept. He held her mug out to her- the steaming cup made just the way she liked it.

"How did you know?"

"I know all of your little habits, Martha. All of you, really. And knowing all of you the way I do, I knew that you would be the first one up, and you'd need your coffee." He said with a light smile. She leaned with him against the counter as she heard others shuffling around the TARDIS, waking up in their own time.

"You know, he thinks you're going to take Rose back to the other dimension. He thinks you're going to leave him too." She hoped he was wrong. She was disappointed.

"Yeah… he'd be right."

"But why? Couldn't they just stay with you?" She figured by including Rose she'd have more of a chance of keeping the other Doctor here as well. She didn't know exactly why she wanted him to stay so badly, but she knew that the other dimension wasn't the only solution.

"They can't stay. She caused countless dimensions to collapse." He spat the words out in an angry whisper.

"And he," Now, he seemed to be grappling with the reason, as if he wasn't completely sold on it himself. "He committed genocide."

"The genocide of your most hated enemy! I'm not sure how that's a bad thing. Any being capable of unraveling reality shouldn't be allowed to continue living, should they? What was to stop them from trying it again if they were allowed to live?" Martha grew more and more angry. She couldn't believe he saw this as a bad thing.

"Martha, he was born out of war. All fire and brimstone and anger. Rose is still a good person. She did wonders for me. She can help him."

She heard people beginning to stir in the console room, so she dropped her voice down to a harsh whisper.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing! It's her fault, Doctor!" Had the situation been different, she might have laughed at their almost comical whisper-shouting match.

"If it wasn't for your little girlfriend poking holes in dimensions like a poor girl with a rich man's condom, none of us would be in this mess! I mean honestly, what 'Bad Wolves' have you ever known with good intentions? He didn't ask to be here and he doesn't want to be. The least you can do is give him a choice!

You can't punish him for her mistakes! He's a casualty of her selfishness. She can't help him and you know it. Yes, she helped bring you back to humanity after you lost it all, but she can't teach him how to be human! They're two totally different things! After all she did to try and get here, what makes you think she'd be content in that other dimension? Let alone that she's stable enough to help him live like a normal person after 900 years."

She was fuming.

"This is not up for discussion, Martha. You wouldn't understand." He whisper-shouted back before turning his back to leave the kitchen.

"Then make me understand, Doctor. I'm not stupid and I'm not some naïve little girl who can't handle what you have to say. So stop treating me like that." She said as she followed him, adding quietly, "I thought we were past this."

He stopped in his tracks at the pain in her voice. He didn't mean to hurt her, especially not after all she'd been through.

"I'm sorry, Martha." He said sincerely, pulling her into one of their trademark huge hugs. She closed her eyes and inhaled his scent, noting one more difference between the two Doctors. He let her go, but his fingers lingered, trailing slowly down her arm to link his fingers with hers.

"It's just that he-"

"Good morning, Doctor!" Rose called from down the corridor. Martha steeled and pulled her fingers away. The Doctor exhaled, faltering at her reaction. He turned to Rose's candy-sweet greeting, but when he turned back Martha was gone: only a flash of a white dressing gown disappearing around the corner remained.

The nameless Doctor slept for most of the day. Or at least he stayed away from the rest of the group. Martha straddled the fence between the two: trying to walk the line between being social with the other companions and watching over her 'patient'. Sometimes, she'd come in and he'd be sweating in his sleep. Other times, he'd be under the bed, sleeping peacefully.

This time he was awake, sitting on the edge of her bed. She'd brought him a sandwich and tea- no matter who or what he was, he still needed sustenance, she insisted. They sat in silence as he practically inhaled the food.

"Thank you." He said, in a near whisper. "Not just for last night. For everything. You've done so much for me… for us." She muttered that it was nothing, nervously chipping the nail polish from her fingernails. He- the real Doctor- was always that tender when they were alone, and she was always this nervous. He was a different man and he was still her best friend, but he also still had the ability to make her heart convulse with pure joy when he was so gentle with her. It was these uncharacteristically quiet times that she relished most.

"It's so much more than 'nothing,'" he replied with a soft, sad smile. "He may never say admit it. He may never tell you. He might not even realize it yet. But he loves you. He sees you and he loves you and he won't allow himself the luxury. But for that reason, he won't let me either. I'm not telling you this so you can hate him, or for you to try and convince him otherwise. You know how I am when my mind is made up. I'm telling you so that you understand. Because you deserve to know. And because I know that you're smart enough to comprehend what this means. You're too smart not to." He gazed at her lovingly while she stared back with wide eyes. She was caught in the headlights of his admission and the coincidence that this was the same conversation she'd been trying to have earlier with the real Doctor. She was positive that she wouldn't have gotten this answer.

He was resigning himself to his fate and asking her to simply acknowledge what he was giving up, all for the sake of the other Doctor's sanity. In that moment, she realized, that this half-human Doctor had been stronger than his Time Lord counterpart. Just as John Smith had been when he'd chosen to die so the Doctor could live. This Doctor was graciously accepting his lot; exiled and earthbound with no chance of escape so the Doctor wouldn't have to share. Her Lonely God was trapped on Earth.

In an instant, her lips were on his. She'd launched herself at him and he caught her gracefully before taking her again in the comfort of her room.

I updated again for you guys. I really do love all of my readers. Like even if you don't review, the simple fact that you took the time out to add it to your favorites, your alerts, or even to just simply read it, it makes me feel like dancing in a field of flowers. THAT's my high. Knowing that there was at least one person who thought this story was worth their time. Reviews are just the cherry on top of the brownie sundae. I write because I love it and because I really have something in these fleeting ideas that could possibly entertain someone. This chapter, and every chapter of anything that I ever write is dedicated to my readers- however many or few of you there are.

OK, enough with the mushiness. Nobody reads these anyway. =]

xoxo, LPL