I've written up to chapter 14 at this point and I am very excited. The Lazarus Experiment will probably be chapter 15 or 16. And I know I said I decided what to do with Martha but honestly I don't.
The Doctor was back at the console room with Martha. He'd hung the sweater with the scarf and mint jacket and taken off his own coat.
"Did you find them?" Martha stood up when he'd come back.
The Doctor shook his head, forehead wrinkled. "Just the sweater but other than that - nothing."
Martha hummed, "They couldn't have disappeared, right? Like gotten teleported or kidnapped?"
The Doctor shot down that suggestion, "It shouldn't be possible to teleport anything in the TARDIS and no one can get in without a key."
There was a pause. Just a small silence, but long enough for the Doctor to feel that tingle in the air. It made him uncomfortable - like something was watching or that something was staring him right in the face but he couldn't see it. He whipped out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the air.
"What?" Martha exclaimed and backed away, "Is there something here?"
Doctor didn't reply, instead stayed quiet and scanned the area around him. He circled several times, moving his arm up and down. He looked at the readings.
"Nothing." The Doctor sighed, "There's nothing."
"We could always just wait for them to show up," Martha suggested, "This place is huge, you could spend days wandering about."
Doctor's forehead wrinkled, "I thought I checked everywhere...but there is always the possibility that the TARDIS made some new rooms…"
Martha nodded, not knowing what the Doctor was exactly talking about but still agreeing, "Exactly."
"So we wait." The Doctor sighed. He'd never been good with waiting. Time seemed to move too slowly when he needed to wait around and be patient. He cleared his throat and shuffled his feet.
After about what felt like an hour or two had passed (it was actually only 10 minutes), Martha spoke up.
"Is there anything we could do," she twiddled with her thumbs, "to, like, make the time pass faster."
The Doctor sighed and fiddled with a meaningless knob on the console. "We could always play a game. I've got Snakes & Ladders. Could try hopscotch."
Martha laughed, "No, Doctor, I meant could we go somewhere while we waited. Check out some scenery while we wait."
He hummed, "Maybe. But only for a quick look outside. No wandering off or getting into trouble. We need to stay close to the TARDIS in case Charls pops up."
Martha smiled and nodded, "Right!"
The Doctor smiled and relaxed a bit. He turned around and started frantically piloting the TARDIS. "So where would you like to go? I know some really cool planets with some beautiful scenery. There's lightning skies of Cotter Paluni's World. Now that's interesting. Oh! There's a place where the grass tickles your feet when you wear pink socks. Or we could try to go see that sapphire waterfall I've heard so much about."
Martha laughed and cut him off, "Doctor, I was thinking we'd go see the Statue of Liberty or go to the Grand Canyon."
He paused, "Oh. Well, that's fine too. Really wanted to see that waterfall though. I suppose I could always go at another time." He muttered to himself then flipped a few more levers.
The TARDIS shook and wheezed as they rocketed off to New York.
Martha stepped out of the TARDIS, followed by Doctor.
He breathed deeply, "Ah! Smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely."
"See," Martha nudged him, "it's better than waiting inside."
The Doctor grinned, "Martha, have you met my friend?"
He looked behind them and Martha followed his gaze.
"Is that?" She laughed, "Oh my God. That's the Statue of Liberty."
"Gateway to the New World." The Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
"That's so brilliant." Martha smiled, "I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean - the real New York. Not the new, new, new, new, new one."
The Doctor turned around and faced the city, "Well, there's the genuine article. It's a good view. So good, they named it twice."
They walked a bit closer to the city on the grass. " Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. No wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam."
"Wonder what year it is, because look," Martha pointed at a half finished skyscraper, "the Empire State Building's not even finished yet.
The Doctor smiled and started to show off, "Work in progress. Still got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around-"
Martha read from a newspaper she'd found on a bench, "November 1st, 1930."
The Doctor looked surprised, "You're getting good at this."
"S'nearly eighty years ago. It's funny, because you see all those old newsreels all in black and white like it's so far away, but here we are. It's real. It's now." Martha looked at the city and laughed.
The Doctor read the newspaper, ignoring the buzz as much as possible. "I think our sightseeing trip just got longer."
Martha read aloud, "'Hooverville Mystery Deepens'. What's Hooverville?"
"We could always go, you know, look." The Doctor suggested hesitantly. "But I'd really rather stay near the TARDIS. Charls might show up soon."
Martha smiled, "Doctor, I'm sure Charls will know to stay put. 'Don't wander off.'" Martha mocked Doctor and laughed.
He smiled, "Sure, why not?"
The two of them went off, to explore the mystery of Hooverville. Of course, a short trip to Hooverville turned into a long, winding path to the Daleks. It always ended up being a long, winding path with some sort of enemy. Enemies that wouldn't quit, that wouldn't die, that wouldn't stop. That wouldn't leave him alone.
Even through that whole trip, the Doctor couldn't help but feel that buzz. It followed him in the sewers, to the laboratory, to the theater, even to the top of the Empire State Building. The Doctor managed to work around the distraction, just pushed his thoughts about it to the side. Into a pile of thoughts and ideas and theories that would be dealt with later. The tingle in the air that followed him. The words of the Face of Boe. The disappearance of Charlie Grey. His family. Certain...feelings for a certain...someone. Those could all be dealt with later.
The adventure was over, the mystery solved. Laszlo had gotten settled, Dalek Caan had vanished, another genocide over and done with.
Martha and the Doctor walked back to the TARDIS, looking at the city one last time.
"Do you reckon it's going to work, those two?" She wondered.
"I don't know." The Doctor admitted, "Anywhere else in the universe, I might worry about them, but New York? That's what this city's good at. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, and maybe the odd pig slave-Dalek mutant hybrid, too."
Martha laughed, "The pig and the showgirl."
The Doctor gave a small laugh, "The pig and the showgirl."
"It just proves it, I suppose. There's someone for everyone." Martha glanced at Doctor.
"Maybe." He turned around and started walking back to the TARDIS.
Martha followed, "Meant to say, I'm sorry."
"What for?" the Doctor asked, fishing in his pocket for the TARDIS key.
Martha shrugged, "Just 'cause that Dalek got away. I know what that means to you."
The Doctor hummed.
"Think you'll ever see it again?" She asked.
He sighed, "Oh, yes. One day."
They stepped into the TARDIS and closed the door. The inside was still as quiet as ever. No Charls sat in the yellow-ish chairs in the console room. There was nothing that had moved. It looked exactly as they left it.
"Fun way to pass the time, though." Martha joked.
"I suppose so." The Doctor started up the TARDIS so they would drift for a bit.
Martha leaned against the railing, "Do you feel something strange?" She asked casually.
The Doctor popped his head up and raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
Martha shrugged, "Just like someone's watching you. Maybe I'm just jumpy from the whole Dalek thing."
The Doctor shook his head, "No, no. I felt the same thing while I was looking for Charls. It seems like whatever it is has gotten strong enough for an ordinary human like you to feel it."
"Shouldn't we be worried?" Martha stood straight, "Strange buzzing in the air doesn't seem strange to you?"
The Doctor shrugged and moved to lean against the railing too, "Well, it's nothing too unusual."
Martha sighed, "Anyways, Charls must still be wandering somewhere."
"Nothing we can do but wait a bit longer." The Doctor sat in one of the yellow-ish chairs and twiddled fingers.
So they waited.