The TARDIS landed with a jerk that sent the Doctor and Rose stumbling backwards, though both of them managed to keep their feet.
"Not bad," the Doctor said proudly. He stepped back to the console and pulled the screen around, checking to see when and where they'd landed. "Not bad at all," he added.
Rose came up behind the Doctor and peered over his shoulder. The screen was once again displaying its data in English, and Rose grinned happily. "Same day, yeah?"
The Doctor turned his head and kissed Rose's temple affectionately. "Same day, in the evening. Excellent navigation, Lewis."
Rose grinned. "Thank you, Sarge." She peered at the location readout. "City centre somewhere, yeah?"
The Doctor nodded. "I was able to get a bio signature off some skin cells on the phone, so Miss Jones – well, Dr. Jones, I suppose – ought to be 'round here somewhere."
Rose patted the Doctor's jacket pocket. "Still got the phone, yeah?"
"Of course I have," he said brusquely. Rose merely smiled cheekily at him and then crossed the console room pick up his coat. He followed her and shrugged into the coat. "Shall we, then?"
"Lead on," Rose said. The Doctor took her hand and they slipped out of the TARDIS and into a dark London alley. Around the corner, they could hear the sounds of voices raised in a loud argument. They peered around the brick building and saw a group of people standing outside a pub, talking and shouting over each other.
"That's her!" The Doctor pointed to Martha and grinned. "Martha Jones, who helped save the hospital and half the population of the Earth."
Rose returned the Doctor's smile and leaned against the corner of the building, watching as the group of people Martha was with began to fracture, different people going off in different directions, still yelling as they went. "Good for her."
The Doctor stood behind Rose, one hand braced on the wall above her head and the other resting lightly on her waist. She leaned back against him and he pressed a kiss into her hair.
A moment later, all the people Martha had been with – the Doctor thought they were probably her family, judging from their resemblance to each other – had dispersed, leaving Martha alone in front of the pub, shaking her head. She heaved a great sigh, her shoulders slumped. The moment she caught sight of the Doctor and Rose, they saw a big smile spread over her face.
The Doctor gave her a two-fingered salute and a smile, then wandered back into the alley to wait by the TARDIS. Rose gestured for Martha to come along before following the Doctor. By the time Martha jogged into the alley after them, they were leaning against opposite sides of the TARDIS. She gazed at them awkwardly for a moment, and then managed a grin.
"I went to the moon today," she said to Rose conversationally. "Your friend was there."
Rose nodded. "Thanks for helping 'im out." Her tongue poked out when she flashed a smile. "He's a bit helpless without me."
"I am not!" he said indignantly. "Well," he said, correcting himself judiciously, "maybe a bit." He shrugged. "I never run out of milk any more, and she's much better at the domestic side of things."
Rose shook her head and mouthed at Martha, totally helpless.
The Doctor reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out Martha's phone. Holding it out, he stepped forward until he was within her reach. "Told you I'd return it," he said smugly. Rose coughed. "Okay, Rose reminded me. But I'm returning it! Good as new!"
Martha turned the phone on, and sure enough, it appeared to be in complete working order.
"I programmed Rose's number in," the Doctor said. "If something happens you think I might be able to help with…"
"Something alien, you mean?"
"Well, yes," the Doctor responded. "To put it bluntly. If there's something you think I need to know about, call us. You're clever, you'll keep an eye out, yeah? We travel a lot. Sometimes we're… very far away, and won't hear about things ourselves."
Mickey and Jackie had always called them when something came up before, but with them in the parallel world, the Doctor thought it was prudent to have someone else looking out for them. Martha had proven herself to be a capable and level-headed individual in the hospital, so as far as the Doctor was concerned she fit the bill quite nicely.
"You never told me who you are," Martha said suddenly.
"I did," the Doctor said, surprised. "I'm the Doctor."
Martha shook her head. "No, I mean, like… what sort of species?" She grinned incredulously. "Not a question I ever thought I'd be asking, but then again I never expected to go to the moon, either."
The Doctor glanced back at Rose, who nodded encouragingly. "I'm a Time Lord."
"I see," Martha said, sounding bemused. "So, not pompous at all then."
Rose let out a sound that was perilously close to a snort, earning her a glare from the Doctor. She stepped up to his side and took his hand, squeezing it. "That shoe fits you more often than you like to admit."
The Doctor bumped Rose's hip with his. "Cheeky."
Rose giggled, and Martha's gaze focused on her. "And you," she said to Rose. "Are you…?"
"Oh, I'm human," Rose said quickly. "Human as they come."
"But how'd you end up with him, then?"
Rose shrugged. "He blew up my job, I was at loose ends, he promised me the universe…" She squeezed his hand again and looked up into his eyes. "He followed through on that, so I thought I'd stick around."
"And you're just gonna keep travelin' with him? Don't you have people waitin' for you?"
Rose looked back at Martha, her expression darker. "I used to have. They're somewhere else now. Safe and happy," she said, forcing a smile. "But not where I can see them."
"I'm sorry," Martha said, slightly embarrassed.
"S'alright," Rose replied. She smiled again, this time more genuinely. "But listen," she began earnestly. "We really mean it about keeping a lookout for us. We could use eyes and ears in London – we're quite fond of the place, and we'd like to make sure it stays safe."
Martha nodded, scrolling through to the R's on her contact list. "Rose Tyler," she read out. "And it won't matter where you are?"
The Doctor shook his head. "Superphone, hers. Works anywhere, any when."
"Any when?"
"Oh, didn't I mention?" He gestured back at the TARDIS. "It also travels in time."
"You're mental."
"I am not! It does!"
Martha looked at Rose, doubt written all over her face. Rose laughed. "Sorry, it's true. The first place he took me was the day the Earth gets burnt to a crisp by the sun. Not the most romantic first date, but we did have chips afterward so it wasn't a total disaster."
"Maybe you're both mental."
The Doctor and Rose just grinned. "Well," the Doctor said then. "We'd best be off. I've got to build a new sonic screwdriver and Rose wants to go pick up the seventh Harry Potter book."
"Hold on, they only just announced the title for that!"
"Told you," the Doctor said, "time travel. Wait till you read it," he added. "I cried."
Rose stepped forward and took Martha's hands in hers. "Thank you," she said seriously. "For helping him when I couldn't, for getting him home in one piece."
"You're welcome," Martha said, and Rose squeezed her hands lightly before letting go.
"Keep well, Martha Jones," the Doctor said when Rose had returned to his side. "Have a fantastic life, and be sure to call if you need us." He waved cheerfully and then he and Rose walked straight into the odd blue box, closing the door behind them.
Before Martha could wonder what the two of them were doing inside a box that small, a harsh grinding noise filled the air, and she was left staring at one of the many campaign posters pasted on the wall behind.
&etc
After a quick stop in a London bookshop for a midnight Harry Potter party – the TARDIS had provided costumes for them which would have made the filmmakers proud – the Doctor set his ship to drift in the Vortex. He collected up the things he would need to rebuild his sonic screwdriver and headed for the library, where Rose was curled in his cushiest armchair, already well into book seven.
She looked up when he came in, accusation in her eyes. "Hedwig!" she said angrily, then shushed him when he opened his mouth, going straight back to her reading.
They sat in comfortable silence for some time, the Doctor tinkering away and Rose reading her book. Finally, his sonic finished and better than ever if he did say so himself, the Doctor looked over at Rose. He sighed. He should do it. He should ask her if she'd like to see Jack, he knew he should do it.
But she wasn't going to like it, the news that there had been no reason for them not to go back and rescue Jack Harkness from a space station full of Dalek dust except for the Doctor's cowardice. She would be angry with him for his lies of omission, and then when he explained about Jack's inability to die she would probably feel guilty or sad, and he didn't want that.
She was nearing the end of the book, and her eyes were damp but she was smiling, her gaze darting back and forth across the pages with a speed that belied her lack of A-levels. Surely, he thought, surely there would be a better time than now to deal with the Jack problem. He ignored the voice in the back of his mind that asked if it was anything like how there had always been a better time to bring up the topic of regeneration, or the Time War.
Saving the universe, he thought wryly, that was easy. But he was rubbish at the domestics. And so when Rose finally finished the book, and they'd exhausted all avenues of discussion of the fates of Harry and his friends while sitting cuddled together on the library couch, the Doctor took the easy way out.
"So," he said, getting to his feet and holding a hand out to Rose, "where to next?"
Rose smiled and took his hand, allowing him to draw her to her feet. "Why don't we let the TARDIS decide?"
The Doctor beamed. "My favorite destination. Do you remember when I hooked in your iPod and used your music collection for navigation coordinates?"
Rose laughed, and as they made their way out of the library the Doctor told himself he'd tell her soon. But now, after the Judoon and the moon and almost not making it back to her, he just needed to hear her laugh.