So…Hello, Ms. Jones

Martha's Flat
28th April 2008

"There we go." The Doctor said as the TARDIS landed with a thud inside of Martha's flat. "Perfect landing."

"Said by the man who can't land in tight spots properly." Clara teased, and the Doctor gave her a childish pout in remark.

"All right." Martha said as she put on her jacket and moved to the doors. "Wanna come?" She asked, and the couple shrugged.

"Why not?" They asked rhetorically in unison as they stepped out into the living room of Martha's flat.

"Now, if we got this right, we should have landed…" The Doctor moved to look at Martha's bedside alarm clock and he grinned. "We did! It's the morning after you left."

"Why are you so worried about that?" Martha asked, even though she was grateful for it, but she had to ask, and the sudden awkward looks from the couple made her bite back an amused smirk. "What?"

"Last time we tried to do that, we were a year late." Clara explained, and Martha couldn't help the snort that escaped. "What?!"

"Sorry." Martha said with a hand raised in defense. "Just I-"

"Couldn't help it." The couple finished in unison with her, and they rolled their eyes. "Yeah, we guessed."

Martha sighed, moving through her living room to grab her phone, which she picked up and began to dial a number. "Just wait there, okay?"

The couple exchanged another awkward glance as they looked up at the big blue box in the middle of the room. "It'll be a bit hard to explain this." The Doctor whispered to Clara, patting the side of the TARDIS, and she wordlessly nodded.

"Mum?" Martha asked into the phone, and a brief pause followed. "Yeah, hi. Listen, I was wondering if you could come around for a little bit." Another moment went by, and Martha shook her head. "No, it's just I need to talk to you about something." Martha suddenly let out a snort, which made the couple feel a bit nervous for a moment. "No, it's not about Annalise."

"Thank god." The couple whispered in unison to each other, earning a head tilt from Martha, before her eyes went wide, and her mouth dropped.

"No, you can't say that! That's rude, Mum!" Martha retorted through a chuckle. "Okay, you'll be here as soon as possible?" A moment passed, and Martha nodded. "All right. See you then." She took the phone away and hanged up the call, before placing it back down again and gave a sigh. "You can say that again." She muttered, and it made the couple blink.

"Say what again?" They asked.

""It'll be a bit hard to explain this"." Martha quoted, which made them purse their lips together.

"Martha." They warned, and she held her hands up defensively.

"I know, I know." She quickly said as she moved from the room and into her kitchen. "Coffee? Tea?"

"Tea. Two sugars, please." The Doctor called.

"Tea. One sugar and milk, please." Clara called, and the couple moved to sit down on Martha's sofa, leaning their heads against each other as they waited. They waited, and they waited, right until Martha brought their tea's out, and they took them gratefully as they sat around the living room table, Martha having brought up a seat to sit in. The Doctor and Clara, whilst a tad bit nervous, were sitting remarkably still as they continued to wait in a somewhat nervous silence. The nervous tension in the room was mainly coming from Martha, who found herself shifting about in her chair, continuously glancing towards the front door. "Martha, everything will be okay." Clara reassured.

"But this is starting to feel like I'm introducing my secret date to my parents."

"Which you're not." They warned.

"I know, but still." Martha argued, and they shrugged.

"Martha, you just have to be "Au naturel"." Clara said with a quirky flair, but it made the Doctor frown at her. "What?"

"Nobody says that anymore." The Doctor retorted, and Clara blinked.

"Uh, yeah they do."

"No, they don't."

"Yes, they do."

"Come on." The Doctor retorted, but Clara just raised her eyebrows, and his frown turned into puzzlement. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"You're joking?"

"Nope."

"You're actually not kidding?"

"Oh, for goodness sake, you two." Martha groaned despite her amused smile, but it quickly turned into blinking anxiousness as the doorbell rang, and she sprang up. "Right." She cleared her throat and moved off to the front door.

"See?" The Doctor asked rhetorically as Martha disappeared. "Laughter is the best medicine."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure no one says that anymore, Doctor." Clara retorted.

"I'm pretty sure they do."

"I'm pretty sure they don't-"

"Hi, Mum!" They heard Martha exclaim, and another female voice responded in kind.

"All right, what's the big occasion?" Her mother asked.

"I'll explain in a moment." Martha said as the front door closed. "But first, I'm so happy to see you."

"You saw me last night." Francine said, and her dry tone of voice made the couple have to hold back a snigger.

"Again, in a moment."

"By the way, you disappeared last night." Francine pointed out.

"Mum!" Martha retorted, and they could tell that Francine held up her hands defensively.

"Okay, okay."

The two Jones' moved into the living room, and the couple smiled at them, which Francine did return, despite her inherent puzzlement. They also noticed that Francine was dressed similarly, but not exactly, like Martha, wearing leather jeans and a jacket over her shirt, only she had the addition of a jumper underneath her jacket as well. "Mum, these are my friends." Martha introduced, and the couple stood up and walked over, Clara the first to hold out her hand.

"Hello." She beamed, and Francine shook her hand. "Clara Oswald."

"Francine." She introduced, and then the Doctor stepped forward.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor."

Francine blinked. "Doctor what?"

"Just "The Doctor"." He answered simply. Once the greeting's had finished, they found themselves standing in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments, until the Doctor spoke up. "So, Mrs. Jones-"

"No." Clara interrupted, which made Francine blink.

"What?" The Doctor asked.

"You can't say that." Clara said simply, which made Martha lean over to Francine.

"Sorry, they're having a moment." Martha said with a roll of her eyes, and Francine turned back to look at the couple in, some amused intrigue, even though she would never have admitted that.

"What was I going to say?"

"First, it's "Ms. Jones, not Mrs. Jones". Secondly, you were going to say, "So, Mrs. Jones, we've heard a lot about you." Which is not only creepy but also very false." Clara admonished.

"I thought it would've been a polite thing to say!" The Doctor whined.

"No, it isn't!"

"Are you two finished?!" Martha interrupted with a snap, causing them to flush up in embarrassment.

"Sorry." They muttered in unison.

"You know, I'm all right with you two." Francine inputted amusingly, making the trio look at her in bewilderment.

"Really? Why?" They all asked, and Francine only explained simply with-

"Annalise. Her and my husband, no sorry, EX husband, are worse that you two. And not in a good way." She added with a twinkle, and the couple just stared at her in almost grateful surprise.

"Okay. You are the first person to say that you don't mind us." Clara muttered, and Francine blinked.

"I don't remember saying that last bit." She said, and the couple let out a chuckle at her words. "So, how did you two meet her?" She asked.

"You know about the hospital from yesterday?" Martha asked, and Francine nodded. "We met there."

"I swear, we weren't looking for trouble, we just found the hospital was doing something strange, is all." The Doctor added.

"But because of it, we ended up on the moon." Clara inputted, giving the Doctor a smile. "And that's a sight I won't be forgetting." She admitted, and he winked at her.

"So, what about the whole disappearing from last night, Martha?" Francine asked.

Martha looked at the couple for a brief moment for help, and they just nodded with a warm smile. "We traveled through time." She said simply. Francine didn't emote anything, and Martha took it as if she didn't believe her. "I mean it. After you guys disappeared off arguing, I saw them, went around a corner, and we went through time." Francine still didn't emote anything, and it made Martha worried. "Mum?"

"Uhh…" Francine stuttered, and she gave several blinks before she glanced properly at Martha. "Sorry. You said you traveled through time?" She asked with a disbelieving yet inquisitive frown.

Martha groaned. "Fucking hell."

"Language, young lady." Francine warned.

"Sorry." She stepped forward and took Francine's hands in hers and said calmly, "We traveled through time in a ship."

"Okay." Francine nodded. "What ship?"

Martha nodded to the blue box, which made Francine snort. "Don't be ridiculous. That's tiny!"

"She's serious." Clara inputted, and Francine blinked.

"How can that be a spaceship?" Francine asked.

*Beeps* ("She". Not "It" or "That")

Francine gave a sharp breath, and she stuttered out, "Tha-that just-she just-"

"Yes." The couple said in unison, and Francine blinked repeatedly in shock.

"Okay, ho-how do I know that this isn't a trick?" Francine asked Martha.

Martha just held up a hand, moved quickly from the room for a moment before returning with a stethoscope. Then, she gave the earpieces to Francine and motioned the couple over. "Here. Listen." She first placed the drum on the left side of the Doctor's chest for a small moment before she replaced it on his right side, and Francine gave a sharp intake of breath. Then, Martha took the drum and placed it on Clara's chest, and the sudden sound of absolutely nothing made Francine drop the earpieces straight into Martha's hands as she placed one of her own over her mouth. "Mum, do you want a drink?" Martha asked.

"Oh, yes please." Francine answered with a shaky laugh, and she moved to sit down on the sofa with her head in her hands as Martha went into the kitchen.

"You sure you want to hear all of this?" Clara asked, moving slowly to sit down beside her.

"Yeah. No. Yeah. Kind of." Francine started and she gave a sigh. "Sorry. It's not every day your daughter tells you that they traveled through time in about half a day."

"Yeah." Clara nodded. "Sorry about that."

"Not your fault." Francine waved off, and Clara shook her head.

"No." She said simply. "We're the pilots, we could have not offered it to her."

Francine gave another sigh, removed her hands from her face and she looked at Clara. "Are you two…um…"

"Aliens?"

"Yeah."

"He is." Clara nodded to the Doctor. "Me…" She blinked before giving a dull glare off into the middle distance. "Ugh, it's complicated."

"Why are you staring off like that?" Francine asked.

"It's what he does when he's sad." Clara quipped dryly.

"Oi!" The Doctor whined, just as Martha came back into the living room with a cup of tea in one hand, and a small shot glass in the other.

"Martha," Francine started with a blink, "I wanted something stronger." Martha just gave her a dull glare, then she poured the tiny amount of alcohol into the tea and gave it to Francine. Francine then took a sip before promptly spitting it out with a disgusted yet regretful look. "Okay, I take it back, just water will do me." Francine said, and her words made them, even Francine, start to laugh.

"Bloody hell, Mum, you spat all over my washing!" Martha admonished, and Francine gave a smile despite her starting to cough out the horrible drink.

"Sorry, darling." She said, giving out another cough as Martha promptly returned with a glass of water, and she drank it down. Then, she set the empty glass down on the table with a gulp, and she looked back up at Martha. "So, what exactly did you do in your, uh…time traveling?"

Martha looked at the couple for a moment, then the three spoke in unison, "We went to New Earth."

"Sorry?" Francine blinked.

"Yeah. We went into the future."

"No, I meant…why was this planet you went to called "New Earth"?"

Martha's eyes widened in serious disbelief. "Out of all the questions you could ask, you ask that?"

"Yes!" Francine exclaimed, causing yet another snort from the couple. "Why would someone call a planet an old planet's name but with "New" in front of it?"

"Same person that named "New York"." Martha retorted, and Francine sighed.

"Oh, fine."

"But we did find out that traffic apparently gets even worse in the future." Martha inputted, and Francine gave a dry chuckle.

"As if we don't already know that." She retorted, and Martha shrugged.

"Oh, and-"

"We met Shakespeare." The Doctor interrupted, and Francine's eyes widened.

"You're not-"

"No." Martha interrupted.

"Okay, we may need to stop now." Francine said with a shaky chuckle. "I feel like I'm going a little bit crazy here."

Martha gave out a breath, but she nodded. "Okay." Then, she gave a half-attempted glare at the couple with her finger raised. "You two won't be going anywhere, won't you?"

"Wouldn't dream of it." The Doctor answered.

Martha sat down beside her mother and took her hand. "There is more, but I'll only say if you want to hear it."

"Oh, I do. I do." Francine nodded but her eyes began to grow dim with weariness.

"You'll get to hear all about how I made Shakespeare say "Expelliarmus"." Martha added, and Francine groaned.

"Martha, please."

"Yes, I'm stopping." Martha quickly said as she patted her mother's hand. "Anyway, how is everybody doing?"

Francine let her weariness slide away and she gave her a smile. "All right. Leo is Leo. Your father is still driving me mad with his menopause and his trophy girlfriend."

"Yep. Ew." Martha agreed, and Francine just nodded.

"Trish…I was actually going to talk to you about her earlier. She is going to be on TV soon."

"Really?" Martha asked, and she picked up her TV remote. "Let's have a look." She flicked the TV on and turned up the volume.

"Commander Cody, the time has come. Execute order 6-"

"Oh, sorry!" Martha said with a flush as she switched the channels over.

"Martha, I told you, you need to slow down on those movies." Francine admonished.

"I said I'm sorry!" Martha retorted with a squeak as she landed on the news. "Okay, there she is."

Trish was indeed on the screen, standing next to a very old and wrinkly, white haired man, dressed in a suit and leaning on a walking stick, being repeatedly hit by the blinding flashes of reporter cameras. "The details are top secret, but tonight, I will demonstrate a device which will redefine our world."

"How did Tish end up on the news?" Martha whispered to Francine, and she just shrugged.

"It's part of her job."

"With the push of a single button, I will change what it means to be Human." The man declared.

Martha switched off the volume at that and gave a "Okay" face. "Right. Not that I get what that means." Martha muttered sarcastically to herself, and Francine just snorted.

"Hold on a moment." The Doctor interrupted with a frown, which made the Jones' blink at him and Clara look at him inquisitively. "Sorry, but I have to ask, did he just say that he will "Change what it means to be Human"?"

AN: Aaaaaaaand, to be continued. Now, there's a few reasons why I made this. One was that as I got to the end of "Gridlock", I thought, "Hey, this might be a cool idea" so I just hashed it out in a few days. It's turned out pretty okay, at least for me it did.

Now, the other real why I did this is because I really just wanted to say thank you. As of the publishing of this chapter, (which in New Zealand would be the 6th of April, and I don't know what it is everywhere or anywhere else), this is the day that I actually started this story a full year ago. I don't want to go on a full tangent, since I generally end up becoming a bit of an idiot at tangents, but the long and short of it is just, thank you so much to all of you who have stuck around, all of you who are new and for all of your support. I grin like a goddamn idiot when I read your reviews, and I'm so glad that you guys/gals have been enjoying this story so far. I hope I very much can continue this story in the future, and that all of you will stick around to help me through it all. Cheers! :D