Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, but I do own Charlene (The Protector) and any other characters I make up!
Author's Note: Now up to 132 reviews! Keep the reviews coming!
Wasn't planning on making this part all in Martha's POV, but it turned out that way. Enjoy the chapter!
Charlene's outfit for this episode is on my polyvore... :)
Martha wanted to freshen up before the Doctor and Charlene took her back. Just the thought of going home left her with a heavy heart. She didn't want to leave. Just this one trip made Martha want to go somewhere else, but she knew it was impossible. The Doctor and Charlene clearly told her she could only have one trip and both seemed pretty serious about it especially the Doctor. As they said, they would rather is just be them.
Martha sighed as she left the bathroom to head back to the control room. It was rather easy to find and she saw the Doctor and Charlene over by the console, chatting with each other quietly. Charlene was the first one to see her and she smiled brightly.
"Martha!"
She smiled back, going over to the captain chair and sitting down on it demurely. Martha looked over at the Doctor, who looked to be in a good mood, as he flipped a few levels on the console.
"Alright so!" Charlene clapped her hands, grinning. "The Doctor and I talked…and I know we said only one trip and one trip only. But how about we stretch the definition? Like we take you on one trip to the past, one trip to the future? What do you think?"
Martha felt like squealing in excitement, but kept it toned down, settling on a thrilled tone as she said, "No complaints from me!"
Charlene beamed at her, "Great! Where do you want to go?"
The Doctor spoke up though before she could answer. He was grinning. "How about a different planet?" he suggested.
Martha looked the sound of that. "Can we go to yours?" she asked excitedly, glancing at the Doctor and Charlene."
The grin fell from the Doctor's face and Charlene winced before opening her mouth to say something, but the Doctor cut in rather quickly,
"Ahh, that's plenty of other places!" He wasn't looking at her as he tinkered with the controls.
"Come on, though! I mean, the Planet of the Time Lords!" Just the thought of going there made Martha excited. "That's got to be worth a look! What's it like?"
"Well, it's beautiful, yeah…"
Martha got up to her feet, moving around as she continued to speak, not noticing the sad look in Charlene's eyes as she looked over at the Doctor, "Is it like, you know, outer space cities, all spires and stuff?"
"Martha…" Charlene said warningly.
But she barely heard her, still lost in imagination, "Great big temples and cathedrals!"
"Yeah…"
Martha turned towards the Doctor, eyes twinkling with excitement, not noticing Charlene's glare on her face. "Lots of planets in the sky?" she asked.
"Doctor, you don't have to…" Charlene said softly, grabbing the Doctor's hand and squeezing it. It was then that Martha noticed the sadness in both of their eyes and she couldn't help but feel she had touched on a sensitive topic. However she didn't know why it was one.
The Doctor didn't seem to hear his girlfriend as he spoke, sounding as if he was far away. That he was gone in a different place and time.
"The sky's burnt orange, with the Citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, shining under the twin suns. Beyond that, mountains that go on forever…"
"Slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow," Charlene cut in with a whisper, her brown eyes glossy with tears.
Martha was memorized by their description. It sounded beautiful and she forgot about her thought about their planet being a sensitive topic for them.
"Can we go there?" she asked, out of breath.
The Doctor snapped out of it and quickly changed the subject. "Nah!" he said. "Where's the fun in that? I don't want to go home!" Charlene didn't say anything, staring into space. "Instead…" He began dancing around the console, tweaking settings as he went, "This is much better. Year five billion and fifty-three, planet New Earth! Remember that Carly-love? Now that was an interesting day!"
Charlene shook her head and cracked a smile, "Yes, I remember."
A curious look crossed Martha's face. "What's New Earth?" she questioned curiously.
"It's the Second hope of mankind! Fifty thousand light years from your old world, and we're slap bang in the middle of New, New York."
"Well, technically it's the fifteenth New York from the original," Charlene added.
"Yeah, so it's New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, York," The Doctor said rather fast and Martha couldn't help but blink. "One of the most dazzling cities ever built."
"But just call it New, New York, much simpler," Charlene told Martha, laughing as she patted her shoulder. She began to lead her to the doors of the TARDIS as the Doctor threw on his brown overcoat and got in front of the girls, getting to the doors first so he could open them for them. They stepped outside only to find themselves in the pouring rain.
Martha scowled as she hurriedly zipped up her jacket. "Oh, that's nice!" she said. "Time Lord Version of dazzling."
"Nah, a bit of rain never hurt anybody," The Doctor told her.
Charlene looked around the slummy area they were in, frowning. "This definitely isn't the New, New York, I remember." She looked over at the Doctor, "I wonder where we're at then?"
"We'll figure it out," the Doctor said. "But first, let's get under cover!"
Martha didn't have to be asked twice as she, the Doctor, and Charlene dashed through a junk-ridden street, past what looked to be giant dumpsters and old laundry swinging from the line.
"Well, it looks like they same old Earth to me," Martha pointed out. "On a Wednesday afternoon."
"Oh, I love Wednesdays," Charlene said brightly. "Although…" She titled her head to the side, "I don't know specifically why."
"Well, Wednesday are better than Sundays."
"Why do you say that?" Martha asked, looking over at the Doctor.
"Sundays are boring. It's the reason why I never land on Sundays." The Doctor changed the subject, "Anyway! Let's have a look." He went over to a dead screen on the wall but there was a cover so they wouldn't be in the rain.
"My turn to do the sonicing," Charlene said, taking out her sonic only to twirl it up in the air and catch it with a grin.
"Why can't I do it?"
"Because you always do it."
"Not always."
"Okay, then tell me when have I ever done the sonicing without you telling me to do it?"
"Fine then I will… what about the time…?" The Doctor frowned then, "What about…? No … Yes! No ... Oh! I got … wait, no…" His shoulders slumped and he sighed giving in as he moved where Char could stand in front of the screen, gesturing to it.
"Thank ya."
Martha held back a laugh at her friend's cheeky reply. Something Charlene noticed and winked at her before using her sonic on the screen. Static appeared and she hit the top of it with a fist, and a blonde woman appeared on the screen. Her name was on the bottom of the picture of her. It was Sally Calypso.
"And the driving should be clear and easy, with fifteen extra lanes open for the New, New Jersey expressway." The picture changed to a gorgeous spired city on the coast of a large river, with sleek flying vehicles zooming in the air. It was beautiful to say the least.
"Oh that's more like it!" The Doctor grinned, "That's the New we had last time."
"Yep, you can practically smell the apple grass." Charlene laughed and the Doctor's grin widened.
"Apple grass?"
Charlene nodded, looking over at Martha. "Oh yeah," she said. "It smells exactly like apples and it smells amazing. That's what we're gonna do." She grinned as she gripped Martha's arm excitedly, "As soon as we get out of here, I'm going to get you to smell the apple grass and you're going to love it!"
Martha laughed at her excitement, "Looking forward to it."
The Doctor smiled before saying, "This must be the lower levels. Down in the base of the tower, some sort of under-city."
"You brought me to the slums?" Martha didn't feel irritated by this as she still had a grin on her face.
"Much more interesting! It's all cocktails and glitter up there." The Doctor trapped on the screen before gesturing around them, "This is the real city?"
"He'll just enjoy anything, doesn't he?"
"Yeah." Charlene laughed at Martha's question, throwing an arm around her shoulders, "That's the Doctor for ya."
"Oh, the rain's stopping!"
And sure enough it was. The Doctor stepped out from under the cover with Charlene. "Better and better!" He ran a hand through his wet hair as Martha followed the couple, arms wrapped around her.
"Did you two bring Rose here?" she asked.
"No, it was just me and the Doctor," Charlene answered, rubbing her nose. "She only traveled with us a couple times."
It was then that Martha realized that she didn't know what happened to Rose, Charlene's sister. All she knew was that she was gone.
"What happened to her?" She didn't miss the way Charlene tensed up.
"I don't like to talk about it." The small blonde sounded cold as her eyes darkened. Martha couldn't help but feel startled at seeing her like that. She had never seen Charlene look that way. She looked so much like the Doctor at that moment it was scary and Martha didn't like it. Even the Doctor flinched. Martha went to say something but she was interrupted by a man, who suddenly flipped opened the top of the large green boxes to reveal a street vendor's cart, and around them, many of the others did the same, appearing and shouting out their wares,
"Oh! How long you been there? Happy! You want Happy!"
"Customers! Customers! We've got customers!"
"We're in business! Mother, open up the Mellow, and the Read!"
"Happy, Happy, lovely happy. Happy!"
"Anger! Buy some Anger!"
"Get some Mellow, makes you feel all bendy and soft all day long!"
"Younger, them. They'll rip you off. Do you want some happy?"
The Doctor frowned, "No, thanks."
"Are they selling drugs?"
"It looks like they're selling moods," Charlene said slowly with her own frown.
"Same thing, isn't it?"
More bedragged-looking people walked into the alleyway behind Martha, the Doctor and Charlene. This got more cries from the pharmacists, trying to get them to come over and buy moods. Martha noticed one woman, dressed in rather dark clothing, walking towards the stalls with obvious intent.
"Over here, sweetheart! That's it, come on, I'll get you first!"
"Oi! Oi, you! Over here! Over here! Buy some happy!"
The woman ignored those two and headed to the one she was by.
"Come over here, yeah." She stopped in front of the stall and the woman behind it smiled, "And what can I get you, my love?"
"I want to buy Forget."
"I've got Forget, my darling. What strength? How much do you want forgetting?"
"It's my mother and father," the pale woman said softly. "They went on the motorway."
"That's so sweet."
Martha, the Doctor, and Charlene shared looks. Motorway? Sweet? The Pharmacist reached behind her into the stall and pulled out a circular token, holding it out towards the pale woman.
"Try this," she said. "Forget Forty-Three." The pale woman took the patch and the Pharmacist added, "That's two pence."
The pale woman paid the pharmacist and turned away the token in her hand. Before she could do anything, the Doctor stopped her.
"Sorry, but hold on a minute," he said. "What happened to your parents?"
"They drove off."
"They could come back though," Charlene told her softly. "Do you really just want to forget them if they do?"
"Everyone goes to the motorway in the end. I've lost them."
"But they can't have gone far," The Doctor pressed. "You could find them."
The pale woman just looked at him for a moment before looking down with a sigh and she went to put the patch on her neck.
"No, no – no, don't!" The Doctor tried to stop her, but it was too late.
As soon as she put the patch on, the expression on her face changed so fast that Martha couldn't help but blink in surprise. The woman looked so sad before, but now she looked docile, serene, a bit out of it, and blithely unaware of her surroundings. It was rather sad to see.
"I'm sorry," the woman said shaking her head a bit as she looked at the Doctor. "What were you saying?"
"Your parents," The Doctor said gently. "Your mother and father. They're on the motorway."
"Are they? That's nice."
Martha looked at her in disbelief. She looked at the Doctor and Charlene. The Doctor looked disturbed but not surprised while Charlene looked angry, she didn't look surprised either.
"I'm sorry," the woman apologized again. "I won't keep you." She walked away and all of them watched her go with frowns on their faces.
"So that's the human race five billion years in the future," Martha said, upset and a little scornful. "Off their heads on chemicals."
All of the sudden Martha felt someone grab her from behind, throwing an arm around her neck and dragging her off. She screamed and struggled to get out his firm grip while a woman hurried forward, pointing a gun at Charlene and the Doctor.
"Hey! Let her go!" Charlene exclaimed angrily.
The man, who had Martha, apologized over and over again saying that they only needed three. All the while Martha struggled. It was then that a surprising thing happened for her, the Doctor, and even Charlene who was the one to do it.
She did this high kick and knocked the gun out of the woman's hand before twisting around in a circle. Instead of hitting the man like she did to kick the gun out, she stepped on his foot hard causing him to yelp because she was wearing a wedge boot. Because of this, he let go of Martha who ran over near the Doctor. Charlene panted as she crouched down, hands on the ground, glancing up at the Doctor and Martha.
"How did you—"The Doctor sputtered.
"That was bloody brilliant!" Martha cheered, but this cheer turned into a cry of, 'no!' because the man quickly recovered and grabbed Charlene lifting her clean off the ground. The small blonde kicked her feet as she struggled to get out.
Now the woman was back to pointing her gun at the Doctor and Martha as the Doctor screamed, desperately and angrily, face slowly going red,
"No, let her go! I'm warning you, let her go! Whatever you want, I can help. Both of us, we can help. But first you've got to let her go!"
The woman sounded close to tears as she apologized while backing away along with the man and Charlene, who was still struggling, "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."
"Doctor!" Charlene cried.
But it was already too late as the couple disappeared, slamming a large green door behind them.
The Doctor growled, eyes dark as his jaw clenched tightly and Martha flinched at the sight of it. If Charlene got hurt with those people … well hopefully that didn't happen.
Martha had to watch the Doctor wrestle with the doors, biting her bottom lip. He ended up having to use the sonic to open the doors and they started running down the corridor as fast as they could. Martha managed to keep up with the Doctor, who was running as fast as his long legs could take him.
Even with that, it was too late. Just as they burst out of the fire escape, the car that was there started up and lifted up in the air.
"Carly!" The Doctor yelled frantically.
But the vehicle sped off down a small alleyway and out of sight.
'Shit.' Martha thought to herself, sighing. She looked at the Doctor to find that he was gone. With a small groan, she ran after him and managed to catch up. Martha hoped that got Charlene back because if they didn't, the Doctor wasn't going to take it well and from what she knew of him, she knew that he wouldn't give up without a fight.
TBC...
In...
Gridlock, Part 2...
Wow, another update! That was quick, wasn't it? *pats myself on the back* LOL.
SO Char got taken and you know how the Doctor gets when Charlene is in danger. I feel bad for those two.
So we also get the Face of Boe (Jack) in this episode... I can tell you we might get small hints as to what is to come in the last two episodes of season three, but there might not be because I do want to keep that stuff a secret ;)
Tell me what you thought of the first part! Until next time!