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Previously: Rose couldn't ignore the pounding in her head anymore and she felt herself sway off balance. The Doctor steadied her and led her over to the wall, which she slipped down gratefully.
"Go find Mr Stoker's office," she whispered, desperately trying to keep the world from spinning wildly around her to no avail.
The Doctor was reluctant to leave her but followed Martha with a promise of "We'll be right back."
True to his word, the Doctor returned less than two minutes later.
"She's a plasmavore," he informed Rose, and she was grateful to him for trying to keep her in the loop even though she was nearly unconscious at this point.
"Think, think, think! If I was a wanted plasmavore surrounded by police what would I do?" He spotted the sign to the MRI room. "Ohh, she's as clever as me. Almost."
Rose wanted to take a crack at him for being so full of himself but her tongue was just too heavy.
Suddenly people were screaming around them and Rose heard the gruff voice of the chief Judoon. "Find the non-human. Execute."
She felt her dread for the Doctor's safety spike. Why wasn't he running yet?
He whirled to face Martha. "Martha, stay here with Rose. I need time, you've got to hold them up."
"How do I do that?"
He looked desperately at Rose, who by now was semi-comatose on the floor, only barely holding on to consciousness.
"Just… forgive me for this," he begged, and Rose couldn't tell whether he was talking to her or to Martha, or both. "It could save a thousand lives – it means nothing. Honestly, nothing."
Rose wanted to tell him to do whatever he had to do but she no longer had the ability to move. Martha nodded her consent quickly even though she had no idea what he was talking about.
And then the Doctor kissed her. Rose felt a wave of jealousy sweep over her before she was plunged into darkness.
When Rose woke, it was to find that something was pressed against her face. She attempted to pull away until she realised it was an oxygen mask. She saw Julia kneeling beside her and the medical student gave a small smile.
"You've only been out about two minutes," the woman told her. "Martha's run off."
Rose struggled to her feet, pressing the mask firmly to her face, before limping as fast as she could manage down the corridor, oxygen tank in tow.
"Where are you going?" Julia cried. Rose just pointed to a nearby patient and Julia got the message, rushing over to help the man on the floor and letting Rose leave.
She dragged herself determinedly towards the MRI room. She needed to help the Doctor. Rose reached the doorway just as Martha said, "He gave his life so they'd find you," and felt her whole world crashing down around her.
No. It couldn't be him. Not the Doctor. Martha must've been talking about someone else. But then one of the Judoon moved to the side and she could see him. She could see the Doctor's body on the floor, pale and lifeless.
Rose pushed her way frantically through the group of aliens, not caring what was happening between them and the plasmavore, and dropped to her knees beside the Doctor's head.
Gulping in huge breaths from her oxygen mask, she stroked his hair back with a hand that was shaking violently.
Why wasn't he regenerating? Had it happened too fast?
Whatever the reason, the Doctor was gone.
She heard a strange, high-pitched wail of pure agony and it took her a second to recognize that she was the one making it. She was vaguely aware of the plasmavore screaming something from behind the radiation shielding, but couldn't focus on it.
Only Martha's voice cut through the fog clouding Rose's mind, although she was startled to hear how close it was. The other girl must've been right beside her.
"But what did she mean 'burn with me'? The scanner shouldn't be doing that, she's done something!"
Rose took a deep breath. There were people still in danger. She needed to pull herself together so that she could help them.
She saw that the Judoon were leaving without helping to fix the scanner, so she hobbled over to the MRI controls. She could see two plugs, one red and one blue, but didn't know which one would detonate the machine and which prevent it from exploding. If she hadn't been so low on time and oxygen she might've laughed. Typical 'cut the red wire or the blue?' to stop the bomb.
"You can't go!" Martha was screaming at the aliens retreating forms, "That thing's gonna explode and it's YOUR FAULT!"
Evidently, her words had no effect because the medical student rushed back over to the Doctor's side and immediately began CPR.
Rose could've kicked herself. Why hadn't she thought of something as simple as CPR? Probably because he was a Time Lord. She'd been expecting him to regenerate, but Martha saw him as just another bloke. Rose paused, the gears in her mind turning and clicking into place. If Martha saw him as just another bloke…
Rose ripped the oxygen mask away from her face long enough to cough out "Two… hearts…" before she passed out once more.
x
The Doctor gasped to life and Martha collapsed next to him.
"The scanner…" The student doctor breathed, using her last bit of oxygen, "She did something…"
The Doctor felt as though his lungs were on fire. He gulped in as much air as he could, taking in the sight of the MRI machine, which was crackling with sparks of electricity.
He crawled over to the controls where he was shocked to discover Rose, unconscious and lying on the floor beside them. How had she gotten here? Concentrating on the task at hand, he reached for his sonic screwdriver only to moan in frustration when he remembered it had been broken.
He turned his attention to the plugs, a red and a blue, and tried to remember which one he needed to pull apart. He settled for the blue, then changed his mind at the last second with a small proclamation of "No."
The lightning surrounding the scanner died down and he gave a sigh of relief. Now all that was left was the fact that they were still stranded on the moon with almost no oxygen.
Scooping Rose up and making a mental note to come back for Martha, the Doctor staggered out of the room with the blonde in his arms, down the corridor, and into the ward Rose had first been admitted to. He stopped at the window, panting shallowly, and watched as the Judoon ships blasted off.
"Come on, come on, come on, come on, please. Come on, Judoon, reverse it," he pleaded, and then gave an incredulous grin when he saw the plasma coils surrounding the hospital again.
"It's raining, Rose. It's raining on the moon!"
"You scared me," was the first thing Rose said to him when she woke up. The Doctor hugged her tightly for a minute despite the fact they were both sitting on the floor, sorry that he'd upset her.
"Come on, let's go back to the TARDIS," he said eventually, holding out a hand to help her to her feet. "I want to get that gash on your head patched up properly. How's your leg?"
"Bit sore. What about Martha?" Rose asked as they made their way out of the hospital and dodged the paramedics who tried to look them over. They could see their friend moving away from the back of an open ambulance and talking to another young woman.
"We'll come back for her," he promised. "Let's give her a chance to recover, yeah? We'll go to her brother's party."
"Oh, trust you to gatecrash," Rose ribbed just as Martha gazed up and saw them.
The Doctor held up the hand that wasn't holding Rose's to give her a cheery wave and half-smile.
The pair entered the TARDIS and the Doctor immediately set out to mend Rose's injured leg, which healed up nicely, and her cut. By the time he was done there was only a pale pink scar along her temple to mark where it had been.
"Hardly noticeable," he announced.
"Thank you, Doctor," she said sincerely.
"My pleasure. Now, how what you feel about inviting Miss Jones on a little thank-you trip?"
"Sounds great!" Rose enthused. "Let's just get cleaned up first, yeah? I've got blood all over this shirt."
He agreed, feeling the need for a change of clothes himself. He got dressed into his brown suit as fast as he could, but by the time he got back to the console Rose was already waiting for him.
"There's something I want to do before we go, please."
Julia Swales was at the end of her rope. It had been a very long week.
She'd decided to be a doctor after she left school, but was beginning to seriously reconsider. It had only been a term, but the extensive classes and training courses left her utterly drained, not to mention convinced that she'd never get to see the inside of hospital unless she was a patient. As well as dealing with the stresses of medical studies, her bestfriend had just moved to America for an office job. Even though Julia knew nothing about business, she was tempted to join her. Anything had to be better than this nightmare.
To top it all off she'd lost the bag with all her textbooks in it on the train the other day, and even replacing them with ratty, second-hand versions would cost a fortune.
There was nothing she could do about it of course, except whinge to her friends everyday for a week, but it made her wonder why she ever thought being a doctor would be a good idea in the first place. It was expensive and demanding.
With a drawn out sigh, Julia let herself into her small apartment and collapsed on the bed. She rolled over, miserable, before spotting a large package on her desk. She didn't remember bringing that in. Frowning in confusion, Julia hauled herself off the bed and picked up the parcel.
Blimey, it was heavy! She ripped off the paper to discover a stack of brand new textbooks, the same ones she needed desperately but had been avoiding coughing up the money to pay for. In shock, the girl searched for a note or inscription that would tell her who had sent them but all she found was a small piece of paper with tiny writing.
Julia, you're a lifesaver - Rose.
She had no idea who that was, or what Julia had done to deserve her gift, but by the sound of it she'd really helped this mysterious Rose.
She reread the note. Lifesaver. She liked that. Maybe if she kept at her studies, one day somebody else would be leaving her a little letter and thanking her for actually saving a life.
It wasn't until years later, when Julia had finished her training and was promoted to Resident medical officer, that she found the note again and made a connection between the name and the blonde woman who had shown up on the craziest day of Julia's life. She remembered how the woman had promised that she could help as long as Julia was able stay strong for her patients, and how she'd found Rose unconscious later on, and gave her one of the last oxygen tanks.
But… it couldn't be though same person, could it? Julia ran a finger over the aged writing. This had been written years before that day, there was no way Rose could've left the gift in her apartment before Julia had even become a doctor!
Then again, the new Resident thought with a small smile, stranger things had happened. She'd been to the moon once.
"Ready to get going?" Rose inquired enthusiastically as she bounded back into the console room from Julia's bedroom.
The Doctor hesitated. There was something he should probably bring up with her before Martha came aboard, but he really wished he didn't have to.
"Um, Rose," he stuttered, "About the… genetic transfer with Martha…"
"The what?" She asked, eyebrows drawing together in confusion.
"The, um, ah…" He tugged on his ear nervously, "That is to say, the – the kiss."
Rose's eyes widened. "It's fine, Doctor. I mean, of course it's fine. No reason it wouldn't be, right?"
He faltered slightly. "Right," he confirmed reluctantly.
He wished he could say something else, something along the lines of 'it isn't be fine because I wanted it to be you that I kissed', but he stopped himself. For one thing it was almost unbearably cheesy. And what if Rose didn't feel the same way? She'd already promised him forever, but what if she only saw him as a bestfriend? If he told her how he felt and she didn't feel the same, he'd be condemning her to an extremely awkward situation. She couldn't leave because she had nowhere else to go, but she might not be able to stay knowing the Doctor's feelings and not being able to return them. So he kept his mouth shut.
"Martha?" He prompted, effectively changing the subject. An expression he couldn't quite decipher flashed across her face.
"Sure. Let's go crash this party!"
He laughed and set the TARDIS to land roughly a street away from where it had traced Martha at 8pm the same day.
He flicked a compartment on the console open and a brand new sonic screwdriver appeared, almost identical to the last. At Rose's questioning look he explained. "The TARDIS makes them."
"I didn't know she could do that!" Rose exclaimed. "I should get her to make one for me!"
The Doctor smiled at thought of Rose with her own sonic screwdriver. It wasn't a bad idea actually, he should look into that.
"It takes a very long time," he clarified. "I suspect she's been working on this one since I regenerated."
Rose sighed. "Pity. That could've been really useful. Come on, then."
He linked his arm through hers and they left the TARDIS. They'd only gone a few steps when they heard a woman shout, " – has a go at Martha, practically accused her of making the whole thing up!"
The Doctor raised his eyebrows at Rose, wondering what was going on. Martha's familiar voice soon joined the other.
"Mum, I don't mind! Just leave it," she insisted.
"Oh, 'I've been to the moon'," came a high-pitched, mocking voice, "As if! They were drugged, it said so on the news."
"Since when did you watch the news? You can't handle Quiz Mania," snapped the first voice.
"Blimey," Rose whispered, and the Doctor was inclined to agree.
They rounded the corner and observed the scene before them. A blonde woman was the closest to them, and a man stood between her and a dark-skinned woman, the first speaker, who the Doctor took to be Martha's mother. Martha herself was even further back next to a young man and the woman they'd seen talking to Martha at the hospital earlier, who were arguing as well.
Martha was silent, watching the older trio bicker.
"Oh I am never talking to your family again!" The blonde spat angrily.
"Oh stay!" Martha's mother called after her sarcastically. "Have a night off with Clive!"
"Annalise! Don't you dare!" The man shouted to the blonde woman as she stormed off. "I'm putting my foot down!"
"Are you coming?"
" – Make a fool of yourself!" Martha's mother was shouting.
Clive stomped his foot before following Annalise. "This is me, putting my foot down!"
"GOD KNOWS YOU'VE BEEN DOING IT FOR THE LAST 25 YEARS – "
"Oh, Dad!" The young man exclaimed, quickly following his father.
"Annalise!"
" – WHY STOP NOW?"
"Mum, don't!" The girl by Martha cried as the older woman ran off in the opposite direction to the other three. "I asked the DJ and he's playing that song later!"
She pursued her mother down the street so that everyone except Martha was gone, looking more helpless than the Doctor had seen her throughout their entire time at the hospital.
She caught sight of them and the Doctor smiled at her. He tugged on Rose's hand and they withdrew to where the TARDIS was parked, waiting for the student doctor to follow.
"I went to the moon today," she stated when she found them leaning against the TARDIS.
"Bit more peaceful than down here."
He heard Rose sigh beside him and he glanced at her, worried. But Rose wasn't looking at him. She was staring at Martha in what the Doctor made out to be a wistful expression.
"They'll calm down," she reassured her, and Martha nodded in response, albeit somewhat glumly.
"Your head's looking a lot better," the junior doctor noted.
"Yep, all fixed!" Rose beamed.
Martha began walking slowly toward the two of them. "You never even told me who you are."
"The Doctor and Rose Tyler," the Doctor answered softly, slightly surprised that she was still questioning that. He almost laughed as her next words clarified what she really meant.
"But what sort of species? It's not everyday I get to ask that."
"Well I'm human, more or less, and this lump's a Time Lord," Rose answered for them.
"Right," Martha responded with raised eyebrows. "Not pompous at all, then?"
Rose laughed and the Doctor found himself smiling at the beautiful sound.
"You saved our lives, Martha Jones," Rose noted gratefully. "Seriously, you were amazing."
"We thought the least we could do is offer you a ride. I've got a brand new sonic screwdriver that needs road testing, after all. So what do you say? Fancy a trip?"
"We'd really love you to!" Added Rose eagerly.
"What, into space?"
"Well…" the Doctor let the offer hang.
"But I can't. I've got exams! I've got things to do! I've got to go into town first thing and pay the rent, got my family going mad –"
"You haven't told her the best bit yet," Rose grinned up at him, her signature tongue in teeth smile.
"Oh that's right!" He smiled, pretending to smack himself on the forehead. "We can travel in time as well."
Martha tilted her head. "Get out of here," she said sceptically.
"It's true," Rose put in, before giving the Doctor a pointed look. "Although sometimes his driving's a bit off."
The Doctor cleared his throat, feeling sheepish at the memory of Rose's first trip home, when he'd dropped her off 12 months later (well 11 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, and 12 hours later) than expected.
"Come on now, that is going too far." Martha declared.
"I'll prove it!" He insisted. "Rose?"
With a nod of her head Rose disappeared into the TARDIS and he followed her, closing the door behind them.
"Right!" He yelled excitedly, "Back to this morning, remember when she said she saw us on Chancellor street?"
"Oh, of course! I'd totally forgotten with the Judoon and everything. What did she say I told her again?"
"That her jacket was nice."
"Got it."
They landed and he sprung out the doors in search of Martha.
"There she is," Rose pointed out as she stepped up beside him. "On the phone."
"Alright then," the Doctor rubbed his hands together. "It's showtime!"
They weaved their way through the crowd until they were directly in front of Martha.
"Ooo, I really do like that jacket!" Rose remarked.
"Like so!" The Doctor directed at the stunned medical student as he took off his tie, before he and Rose strolled hand in hand back to the TARDIS, leaving a very confused Martha in their wake.
They giggled together as the Doctor programmed the ship to return to present-Martha, stepping out the front doors as soon as they landed.
"Told you," the Doctor said smugly, holding up his tie for Martha to see before starting to redo it.
"No – but… that was this morning!" Martha argued as Rose reached up to the Doctor's neck to take over adjusting his tie.
"But… did you – ? Oh my God you can travel in time!" She breathed.
"Pretty cool, hey?" Rose grinned at her.
"More than cool, that's – that's incredible!"
The Doctor gave a happy hum, satisfied with the amazed reaction.
"But, hold on – if you could see me this morning why didn't you tell me not to go into work?" Martha wondered.
"Crossing into established events is strictly prohibited," he answered seriously.
"… except for cheap tricks."
Rose laughed and the Doctor beamed along with her.
Martha gave them an amused smile. "And that's your spaceship?" She asked, moving closer for a better look.
"The TARDIS." The Doctor detected a hint of pride in Rose's voice.
"That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space," he chimed in.
She reached out a hand to feel the box and gave them an astonished look. "Your spaceship's made of wood."
"How about it, Martha? Will you come with us?" Rose asked again.
"What, all three of us in that tiny box? We'd be a bit cramped."
"Take a look," the Doctor offered, leaving Rose to swing the door open.
Martha took a step inside before turning and heading straight back out again, exclaiming, "No, no, no. But it's just a box… but it's huge! How does it do that?"
Rose was already perched on the TARDIS jump seat while the Doctor stayed by the door. They both waited patiently, and with a fair amount of amusement, as Martha repeatedly checked the front and the inside of the ship.
"It's wood. It's like a box with that room just… crammed in."
Grinning, the Doctor caught Rose's eye and the pair mouthed along over Martha's head as she exclaimed in wonder, "It's bigger on the inside!"
"Is it?" The Doctor feigned ignorance. "I hadn't noticed."
He shut the door and threw his coat over the nearest coral strut. "Right then, let's get going."
"But – is there crew? Is Rose like your navigator or something?"
Rose snorted. "If I am I'm doing a bloody awful job. We never end up where we're meant to."
Martha gave a faint grin. "Okay, but surely there's more people? Where is everyone?"
"Just me and Rose," the Doctor answered quietly. He was avoiding the gaze of the two girls but it was only seconds before he felt a familiar hand slip into his own. He glanced up to see Rose smiling sadly at him. She gave his hand a light squeeze, and the Doctor had never felt less alone.
He cleared his throat and said cheerfully: "Now then, close down the gravitic anomaliser," Rose darted around the console and twirled the right dial, "Fire up the helmic regulator," he himself pressed down the corresponding button, "and finally – the handbrake." Rose grabbed the handle, set to pull it down when he gave the word.
"Ready?" He asked Martha.
"No!" She said excitedly.
"Off we go!"
Rose tugged the lever down and the three were jerked in every direction as the TARDIS shook. The Doctor heaved himself off the seat that he'd fallen into and clung to the console, noticing the two women were doing the same.
"Blimey, it's a bit bumpy!" Martha cried.
"Welcome aboard Miss Jones!" He beamed, extending a hand for her to shake.
"It's my pleasure!"
She took his hand and added with a cheeky grin, "Mr and Mrs Tyler!"
So ends the first rewritten episode! I'd love to hear what you think :) Did you like the Julia section? I wasn't sure whether to include it or not, but I thought it might be interesting.