Ok, so this chapter is a bit of a cop out. I didn't know what to do on 'Gridlock' so I did this. Sorry :/
Martha stood in the shower, massaging shampoo into her scalp as she tried to eradicate as much of the motorway fumes as humanly possible. She was tired, a common symptom of travelling in time, she had began to realise, and it was a relief to let the warm, soapy water soothe her aching body.
Her mind was throbbing. The Doctor had sat down and told her everything. Everything. The mysteries behind his ancient eyes, the reason for the pain that Martha had always been able to detect in his stance. He'd killed people before and despite his undeniable strength and power, Martha found that hard to take in. The man who had saved her life, saved a thousand lives has ended at least that many in the past.
And New, New York. That was something she wasn't expecting. When he's said future she'd naively expected a couple of centuries into her future to see how mankind was getting on. See about all the hover packs and other futuristic devices filmmakers had imagined. But no. They were literally on another world.
Rose was sat in one of the TARDIS gardens. It was made to look like Gallifrey, a hologramic projection- but it seemed real to her. She smiled blissfully. Her plan had succeeded.
The Doctor walked over to her and sat down. He smiled lovingly and kissed her gently. She hugged him close to her and smiled triumphantly.
"I've been such a fool," the Doctor cursed softly.
"You could never be a fool, my love," she replied.
"But I have. I was too wrapped up in the moment that I refused to see Martha Jones as what she really is," he said, touching her face.
"And what is she?"
"A bitch," he whispered. "An evil, ugly, manipulative bitch. I'm taking her home right now. Where she can't do any more damage."
"I've been trying to tell you," said Rose. "I'm sorry it took you so long."
"I know that now," he whispered. "You're intelligence must be great, greater than that of Martha's, as you saw past her scheme right away. I am so sorry. And I love you."
"What made you realise her as she really is?"
"You," he said. "You're beauty. You're intelligence. How you behaved today on New Earth. I think that triggered it. Remembering our first trip there, the love we felt for each other, the danger that almost tore us apart."
"Doctor," she whispered.
"Rose."
"Doctor."
"Rose."
"Doctor!" Rose jolted awake, the book on her lap toppled to the floor. She looked around, confused. She was in the library. When did she go to the library? Her memory slowly returned, and her heart sank. A dream. It had all been a dream. Nothing but a fantasy to taunt her and tease her. She picked up the book. It was a picture book, picture of Gallifrey. She'd never taken much interest in where the Doctor came from; all that mattered was that he was here and there for her. But now that Martha had asked… she needed to know. Martha couldn't know things that Rose didn't.
Her shoulders sagged. The plan had failed. Her plan to get him back where he belonged. She swore.
Hours earlier:
The Doctor bounced around the console energetically.
"So! Martha, Rose. Future. Future. Into the future. Back to the future. For us. Although for Martha you've never been to the future so it's just to the future for you. As in, not back to. The future that is. Anyways, suggestions."
"Actually I have a suggestion," said Rose.
"Fire away. Keep it brief. We have a trip to make."
"I was thinking about New Earth," she said. "I'm sure you'll remember Doctor, before we were married,"- she stressed the last word- "Before we declared our love we lay on the grass watching the skies and we had that… moment. And then how we were both willing to sacrifice our selves to save each other… you remember."
"I remember," he muttered. "But let's not go to the same place, Rose. Keep it fresh."
"New Earth?" asked Martha. "Sounds fascinating."
"Fascinating? That it was." The Doctor thought about it for a few seconds. "In that case, Martha, your wish is my command!" He began to work the TARDIS controls and both women stepped back a little. Rose flashed him a sexy smile every time he ran past but he seemed to miss it every time. As soon as they landed she took a point of hooking her arm around his.
"And off we go," she said sweetly."
Present:
Martha got out of the shower and quickly dried herself off, before slipping into a fresh robe the TARDIS had kindly provided. She smiled her thanks at the ancient but loving ship and twisted her hair into a towel. She walked into her room and sat down on a sofa, her face falling as she remembered what had happened to the great and powerful human race. It was a bit of a wake up call, seeing Shakespeare at the beginning of his revolution, imagining all the promising future that he and indeed the rest of his species were to have, and then immediately after the slums of New Earth, selling drugs to keep the room over their heads. Stealing, kidnapping without a second thought, just to try and get themselves to safety. That was scary. Scarier than witches. The realisation that the human race wouldn't last forever. Jumping through time put everything in perspective.
Hours earlier:
Martha stumbled as her kidnappers stumbled out of the alleyway and into the dim light. She struggled. In her rushed vision she saw the gun pointed at her, and gulped.
"The Doctor is so gonna kill you, never mind that I might kill you myself! Let go of me!" The gun was brought closer to her temple.
"Give her some sleep," said the male- Milo as Martha later found out.
"No!" Martha twisted her neck away. "Don't you dare! Don't you dare put that stuff in me, don't! Get off me!"
"It's just sleep 14!" Martha felt something being smoothed on her neck and she felt dizziness wash over her. She screamed in protest.
"Don't fight it!" Martha gave up, and slumped in the mans arms as she fell into an instant sleep.
Present:
Rose screamed in fury and threw the book on the floor, crumpling the pages. The TARDIS hummed in protest- she barely noticed. She couldn't deal with it. She thought that on visiting New Earth the Doctor would have a revelation. Realise his mistake. Because whatever she saw, she couldn't let him go. Never let him go. And she had to get Martha Jones out of the way. When Martha had been kidnapped there had been a surge of panic, thinking they were about to kill them, then relief. Then there was the feeling that everything might work out. They could relive what she considered their first date, the new Doctor and Rose that was, without the bitch med student mucking things up. It would have been, should have been perfect. But instead, the Doctor had adopted a stupid obsession with finding her again. It was the med student's fault she'd got caught, it shouldn't be her problem.
Martha shook her hair loose and began to brush it out as she sat on the edge of her bed. She heard somebody tap on her closed bedroom door.
"Hello?" she called out.
"Can I come in?" It was the Doctor. Martha closed her eyes. Please, please don't try anything, she begged silently. I might not be able to resist this time…
"Sure," she replied. He opened the door.
"Oh, you're busy. I'll come back later."
"No! No I'm not busy come in!" Why did I say that? I am busy I don't want him to come in. What the hell am I thinking?
"Ok," he said. "I needed to talk to you."
"What did you want to say?"
"I needed to make sure you were all right," he said. "Milo and Cheen were more rough with you that I would have liked."
"I'm fine," she said. "But thanks for your concern."
"I never asked though," he said, sitting down on the chair. "What with the whole face of Boe thing."
"That was a little time consuming," she said. "But actually, are you ok?"
"What d'you mean?"
"You know," she put the hairbrush down. "I'm not sure I should have forced you to tell me everything. I'm not sure it was good. It was interesting but opening old wounds isn't a cure."
"To be honest," he replied. "I'm glad I had somebody to talk it over with. I mean… Rose never asked me. She wasn't interested."
"Oh," said Martha. "Well… well I am. And I'm glad I found out all that stuff."
"I'm glad I told you." And for a moment he looked so unhappy Martha wanted to hug him.
"What is it?" she asked softly.
"I'm trapped," he whispered. "I can't get out. I've only just realised, properly realised I mean. I thought I could just run or I thought that something would come along and sort it out. I should have said no."
"It's not too late," Martha, said. "You can sort it out. Talk to Rose. Properly. Adult to adult."
"It won't work," he said. "As if Rose could ever pass as capable of a mature conversation."
"I thought that about you," said Martha. "Until our conversation about the Time war. You proved me wrong. People can surprise you. Maybe Rose will surprise you."
"I doubt it," he said. "But thank you."
"What bought this on?" asked Martha, concerned. "Why are you telling me this?"
"You're the only person I can talk to," he said. "The only person I can trust. Today made me realise…"
"Made you realise…."
"This won't sort itself out on it's own," said the Doctor. "You know the couple we met. Brannigan and Valerie?"
"The cat person and the person person," said Martha smiling slightly.
"Yeah," he said. "Them. They were married."
"Uh-huh," said Martha, her smile shrinking. He leant forward.
"I'm scared Martha," he whispered. "I'm gonna spend my whole life with this… with Rose and you're gonna be right there and I can't do anything about it."
"You can," she said. "There must be something you can do." A faint grin crossed his face.
"Are you plotting a way to get my wife out the way?" he asked coyly.
"No! Don't be ridiculous!" She flushed. She had fallen into that one- headfirst. "I just recognise your unhappiness and I don't want you to be unhappy." Her voice trailed off miserably at the end.
"I think it was seeing how Brannigan and Valerie acted around each other," he said.
Hours earlier:
"My names Thomas Kincade Brannigan, and this is the bane of my life, the lovely Valerie." She smiled, embarrassed but none the less pleased at his words. The Doctor gulped, as he took in what the couple had, and what he did not. He looked across at Rose who had sat down and was surveying the car sulkily. They'd just had an argument, or snatches of an argument as they ran in pursuit of Martha. Something along the lines of 'she's not important, just another human' and Rose had lost.
"Pleased to meet you," said Valerie politely.
"And that's the rest of the family behind you." The Doctor looked behind a curtain to reveal a basket of kittens. He smiled.
"Aww, that's nice. Hello." Another thing he would never have with Rose. Kids. Not that he wanted something so special with somebody he didn't love. But anyway, Rose didn't want kids. She never wanted anything to change.
"Kids'll just mess up what we've got together," she'd said after one difficult conversation. "And nothing can make what we have change. I don't want that and neither do you."
He sighed.
Present:
Rose was standing by the door of Martha's room listening to her husband converse with her number one enemy. Martha Jones. She couldn't make out what they were saying, they were whispering. Her fists clenched. She was reaching out and stroking his arm comfortingly. Why was she doing that? Rose should be the one doing that!
She barged in and Martha snatched her arm away. The Doctor looked up.
"Hello," he said.
"What are you doing in here?" she breathed.
"Just making sure she was ok after her kidnap," said the Doctor. Rose narrowed her eyes as she remembered what had happened as Martha got further and further away…
Hours earlier:
The Doctor and Rose had dropped through rows and rows of the cars and were now on the bottom row, staring into the wisps of pollution.
"Nothing below us but the fast lane," said the man who the car belonged to.
"So we've lost her then," said Rose unemotionally. "Oh no. Never mind. We can go home now." The Doctor looked down at her pityingly.
"No. No we can't. And I do mind, Rose. Can we drive down?"
"No," he said tightly.
"There are three of us."
"No!" The Doctor sighed and crouched by the capsule. "You can't jump," he said. "It's a thousand feet."
"What's that noise?"
"Maybe it's monsters," said Rose. "Slowly ripping the cars apart." She watched as the Doctor winced and confirmed her suspicions. He did care about her. Shit.
"Well I guess it's too late," Rose touched his arm. "It will take a lot for us to get over this but I'm sure if we do this together we can get through this."
Then the capsule heaved open and somebody else joined the capsule.
LATER:
Martha ran on shaky legs into the courtroom. She saw a skeleton stretched across the ground and feared the worst.
"Doctor?" she whispered.
"Over here!" Rose watched as Martha ran over to him, and then skidded to a halt at the sight of the giant face lying on the floor. And the cat person. Speaking of whom:
"They say that if the face of Boe dies he reveals one last secret," whispered Novice Hame.
PRESENT:
Rose looked around the room tearfully as she remembered the face of Boe's final words. She burst into tears and stormed out.
