A/N: So, it occurred to me while watching LotTL that we never do hear anything about what happens to Leo during the Year That Never Was. The last we hear of him is the Doctor mentioning that he hasn't been captured with the rest of Martha's family. And since we never see him on the Valiant…just what did happen to Leo Jones?
Disclaimer: Of course they're not mine. I just play with them and ship them back off to England when I'm done.
Oddly enough, there's nothing in Martha's initial warning that gives Leo that much pause. He figures that it must be some sort of joke, or maybe even some huge family blowup that Martha's trying to protect him from. When Harold Saxon himself comes on the line, it makes him stop, and realize that there's something to this after all. After he hears the Doctor's voice and the line goes dead, Leo realizes that somehow or another, his sister and her friend have gotten them all in serious trouble. It's not until later that he realizes what really did it in for him—that it was hearing the sheer panic and anger in his older sister's voice as she threatened the Prime Minister that told him that this was real, and left him scrambling to remember all of Martha's instructions. Because Martha didn't panic. Martha never panicked. So if Martha was scared enough to not hide it from her little brother, then something was seriously wrong.
So he grabs Shonara and Keisha and hauls them back to Boxer's, even though he knows that they can't stay there long because Saxon will have heard that's where they're going. He gives Shonara some cash and tells her to take Keisha to her family in Hastings. Suddenly he's glad that they're not married—there's no legal record to tie her to the Jones family. And Martha didn't mention anything about Annalise, so maybe Shonara and Keisha will be safe if they just aren't with him.
Leo heads in the opposite direction, hoping to put a bit of distance between him and the men Saxon has probably sent after him. He manages to avoid them on the trains for the rest of the day and night, but he hears the news of the rest of the Jones family being taken in for "questioning", and that there's a most wanted post out for Martha, the Doctor, and some bloke called Captain Jack. Though he doesn't know it, he spends his night in the same state as his sister, wondering how the hell his crazy but normal family ended up as terrorists wanted by the government. He makes plans on where to go, and how to best avoid capture himself…but the next morning all of his planning is shot to hell. He sees the news telecast, and the President assassinated, and catches just the briefest glimpse of the Doctor before the screen goes dark. Leo knows that they're up there somewhere, Martha and the Doctor, trying to make this whole thing right. But things only go from bad to worse, as metal spheres fall out of the sky and the whole world decends into madness.
For awhile things pass in a blur—it's no longer about hiding, but staying alive as people are pressed into labor camps to work on rockets for their "Lord and Master." He can't help but wonder if Shonara and Keisha are even alive (how can a toddler possibly be kept safe in this?) and he doesn't even want to think about his family. If Saxon was crazy enough to go in with aliens to take over the planet, who knows what he might have done with his family?
It's about three months in when the rumors first reach his ears. He's been doing better than most in the labor camps, since he's a young, strong male, but it's still been hard for everyone. Then one night, he starts to hear the whispers. There's talk of a woman, of one woman in all the world who can kill the Master dead. Martha Jones, they're saying. Martha Jones is going to save the world.
One of the guys laughs and pokes Leo in the ribs. 'Anyone you're related to, Jones?' he asks, and Leo laughs it off. Course not, don't know her, never heard of her, might've had a distant great-aunt named Martha, but that was about it…even then he's ashamed, though he knows that Martha wouldn't want him to draw attention to himself on account of her. It wouldn't do to get himself in trouble now.
Even when he tries to tell himself that it can't be his Martha—after all, Jones is such a common last name, and Martha isn't that unusual either—he knows in his heart that it's true. He remembers how Martha acted the night of the Lazarus fiasco, how she took charge and stood up to their mother and helped to save all of those people…going after that monster when she didn't have too…he knows that Martha has changed. That she's no longer the same quiet, focused medical student that she used to be. And he thinks that if anybody can save the world, his big sister can.
A little while after the rumors start, a rather absurd woman in her late forties with a strange little metal dog wanders into their camp. And she tells them a story, about a man called The Doctor, and Martha Jones, and how they can all help if they do this one, simple little thing when Launch Day comes. He goes after her, later, and tells her who he is—something that he hasn't done since the whole thing began. He tells her that he'll be there, on Launch Day, thinking of the Doctor and making sure everyone around him is too. And he tells her that if, by some chance, she runs into his sister again, to give her a hug for him.
He's not able to keep his promise in the end, though. Six months in, when the rumors have become everyday and he's gotten used to not jumping every time he hears the name 'Martha Jones', he's helping a guy named Dan steal a little extra food for his kid. Cause he knows that if it were Keisha, he'd do whatever he could to help her survive, so he's willing to go out on a limb for this guy who's been working beside him the last few months. Only the guards show up a little sooner than expected. Leo tries to slow them up a bit, giving Dan time to get away, only he's not so lucky. The guards beat him up a bit, taking out their frustration on him, before flipping him onto his back and sticking the barrel of a gun against his forehead. Leo closes his eyes, because he knows what's coming—traitors to the Master are not permitted to live, after all—and his last thought as he hears them cock the gun is of those stupid rumors. Martha Jones, they say. Martha Jones is gonna save the world.
If anyone can do it, it's you sis, he thinks, and then he knows no more.
Don't do drugs, beware of flying squirrels, and review. Okay?