Drops of Jupiter

Summary: As Martha laid dying in the American West, she noticed something odd. Something that makes the Clades, "Unknown" scan proves true. What does that mean for the Doctor and herself? [eventual Doctor/Martha]

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

A/N: This takes place after Human Nature/Family of Blood (1913, TV) and during the novel 'Peacemaker'. AU seasons there after.

I found it odd as I was reading that Martha's genetic status was "unknown" by the alien weapons when clearly in SnJ it was supposed to be a temporary distraction. Then I thought about it along with Lazarus' machine and the fact she has been exposed to time residue before entering that machine with the Doctor. Just thought I'd see where this goes...

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All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. -Anatole France

Chapter 2

The Clade Command Unit had tried to force a take over of the Doctor's mind back in the tiny mine shaft. She hadn't known what to do, so she fell back on a simple human principle- she kissed the Doctor.

He hadn't asked how she had saved him from the Clade and she hadn't told him. They had spent the rest of that evening in Ironhill at a small Inn. Martha and the Doctor had personally buried Walking Crow, the Native American that had helped them. At some point, Martha and Nathan had fallen asleep with the Doctor still outside looking at the stars. Not that it mattered, a few hours later Martha had joined him on the balcony, wide awake. They sat together in silence before Martha coaxed the Doctor into telling her about some of the stars. Martha listened intently as he recounted random facts about some of the visible stars, planets he had adventured to with other companions.

Not once did either bring up what happened in that shaft earlier. Martha was only a little puzzled by the Doctor's lack of comment on what happened to her. She had fully expected an explanation or some kind of acknowledgment, but of course he hadn't said a word. Instead, he seemed to be watching her closely. In his defense, the Clades attempting to destroy Earth was a more pressing matter. Martha figured they'd talk about it once they were aboard the TARDIS.

Martha made her way into the TARDIS a day later, stopping at the console. She felt like there was a soft humming presence in her mind. The presence seemed concerned and yet happy to have her aboard again. To return the greeting Martha patted the console, something she had seen the Doctor do more than once. The Doctor entered the TARDIS, his eyes landing on her briefly before he picked up a book that hadn't been published yet and stepped halfway out the door again.

Glancing down at the bag that contained her blood covered clothes, Martha sighed. A soak in a bath to forget how she had nearly died sounded heavenly. Besides, she hated clothing from this time period to begin with, it reminded her of 1913. And this blue dress wasn't her style, no matter what the Doctor and Nathan said.

The Doctor stepped inside closing the door. He bound up to the TARDIS console, Martha stepped aside and watched, as he started to de-materialize the time machine. Finally, the Time Lord turned to her a frown on his face. "You died." The word again was left out of his statement. Neither wanted to think of their time on the SS Brilliant.

"I'm breathing properly right now." Martha retorted smartly.

"You really don't know what happened to you?" The Doctor asked quietly. He moved forward until he was staring straight at her, she backed away until her back pressed into a the railing behind her. The TARDIS glowed softly, as if she were telling her Time Lord that he was daft.

Raising an eyebrow, Martha crossed her arms getting defensive. "Are you planning to tell me? Because the fact I almost died, did die according to you, hasn't completely sunk in just yet! And that energy build up that healed me? I don't even know what that was! You do! I could tell by your facial expression and you still haven't told me what it was or what it means!"

"Because its not possible! Billions of years Martha Jones! Billions of years of exposure to the energy of the Time Vortex and you've suddenly developed the ability to regenerate in less than seven months time!" He wasn't angry, confused was more like it and the confusion turned to frustration.

Martha felt her jaw drop as his words clicked in her mind. She remembered him trying to tell her back on the SS Pentallian about some ability he had that activated near death. "Wait...you! Regenerate...is that your Time Lord trick to escape death?"

"Yes it is." His brown eyes weren't on her, but on the TARDIS grating. He exhaled, his face now showed determination when he looked at her. "I don't know how this is possible, but I will figure it out."

"Am I still human?" Martha asked softly as she frowned. This time the Doctor looked at his companion. They were always young compared to him, but now...now as he stared at Martha Jones he could see she was frightened.

He couldn't blame her.

Her humanity was in question.

"I don't know." It was true, he didn't and the way her face fell...the way she withdrew into herself, it worried him. Martha had always been brilliant, dynamic and a woman that never needed him. She could and would rescue herself, he'd show up and be by her side to finish solving the problem...but she never needed him. Now? Now her humanity was in question and she needed him. He didn't know how to be there for her. With Rose it was simple- shower her with his attention, his affection. Martha? Would she even appreciate it? At Royal Hope, she questioned everything and was unimpressed with him. Until he showed her the TARDIS, even then she wanted to know how it worked. Everything he could show her it all held a novelty that wore off when she wanted to know more.

What was he going to do with her?

Well, he did need to figure out how she managed to regenerate without changing more than her hair and eyes. It was possible she wasn't completely a Time Lord, but how had she managed to regenerate? Was she still human? Was her body in the middle of developing a second heart (along with extra organs)? What about telepathy? She was human and from the 21st century, they didn't have the mental capacity for it. Well, majority of them didn't.

Martha Jones had become this puzzle to him. Genetically speaking of course.

Martha hugged herself at the Doctor's words. Her hazel eyes staring at the floor. What if she was an alien now? A Time Lord like the Doctor? Would that mean she would out live her family?

Any family she had on Earth with a normal human?

She wanted out of this dress. She wanted to go to her room and not leave it. Part of her, wished she was still dead. Still human. The TARDIS tried to soothed her, but what was Martha Jones if she wasn't human? Her humanity had been her core, her identity! How she stood out from the other aliens she encountered with the Doctor!

Was she overreacting? "I'll be in my room." She stated finally attempting to move passed him. She needed to think.

"Martha." The petite woman looked at the hand on her arm and then up at him. The Time Lord gently squeezed her arm in reassurance. "We should head to the medbay and run some tests first, alright?" Martha knew it was a sensible suggestion and nodded. She should have thought of it. She should have suggested it.

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The medbay was the 12th door on the right. Martha had tugged, more than once, on the stupid dress from the American West. If the Doctor had noticed her discomfort he wasn't saying anything. Instead the whole walk had been filled with him trying to subtly find out if she wanted to go home. She had rounded on him at one point, outside of her door actually, asking him if he was kicking her off his ship. The alien backtracked saying that he wasn't, explaining he only asked because she had died. She had died and if it wasn't for the 'regeneration' ability she wouldn't be walking with him at that moment.

Martha didn't know what she was going to do if she was really not human anymore.

Entering the stark white room with alien gadgets that Martha hadn't seen before, the Doctor approached something and started making adjustments to it. He was talking a mile a minute and told her what it was. Some sort of DNA scanner meant to find abnormal genetic traits. Now, he was apparently calibrating it to read out dominate traits.

"This should be interesting Martha Jones."

Martha quirked an eyebrow as she sat on the bed, "Have you got scissors lying about?"

"Scissors?" He repeated as he pulled away. "Somewhere in here, it's been a while since I've used this room. Why do you need scissors?" He asked as he looked at her over the top of his brainy specs.

Martha smirked, "There's a reason Tish doesn't like my sense of fashion. Now where are those scissors?" Overreacting wasn't going to accomplish anything, but she could distract herself with something else.

The Doctor blinked, he really thought the dress looked fine on his companion. She went about cutting the innocent dress into something more to her taste. The Doctor, after drawing blood from her, was reading through the results of the scan. "Going to share the results?" She asked as she ripped a sleeve off the dress.

"Well right here," He placed the scanner in front of her. "It's saying, hybrid. Your dominate species are Homo sapiens and Dominus temporis."

"Dominus temporis?"

"Dominus temporis. My species."

A soft "ah" sound was all the medical student could say. "How is that possible? I thought the genetic transfer was just an excuse to kiss me which would leave, more or less, your saliva on my skin causing the Judoon's scanner to be confused."

"Blimey." The skinny alien muttered to himself. His face was scrunched up as he thought over Martha's statement. "Well, that's true. That was the intent and it did work that way. However, something else happened in addition to that," he crossed his arms and leaned away from the machine.

Martha stopped cutting away at the dress and eyed the Time Lord. "It took millions, maybe billions of years to develop into a Time Lord."

"Billions of years with consistent exposure to the Time Vortex." The Doctor informed her.

Martha frowned, "I haven't..."

The two locked eyes, "Lazarus' machine!"

"It caused him to awaken dormant, rejected genes in human evolution." Martha pointed out.

The Doctor nodded, "Humans do look like Time Lords, but our biological make up is different."

"Well, Earth and Gallifrey are entirely different planets. What if a Time Lord interfered with the evolution of humans?"

"They were too stuffy to do that, Martha. The only one that interferes with human affairs is me."

The petite woman raised an eyebrow, "That's like saying I'm the only companion you've ever had. It's not possible."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "What you're talking about is a Time Lord interfering with the natural genetic evolution of humans. There weren't many Time Lords that experimented on other species..."

"You thought of someone."

He nodded, "An old schoolmate. However, even she wouldn't have..."

Martha crossed her arms and looked at the paper in the Doctor's hands. "Unless Lazarus' machine combined your genetics with mine while we were trapped in it."

"I was sonicking a lot of things."

"And it was a tiny space."

"Still, how would you know how to regenerate?"

Martha slid her glaze from the paper to the TARDIS ceiling. "Perhaps the same way I consistently understand different languages?"

"The translation circuits?" The Doctor questioned before shaking his head. "You mean the TARDIS."

The pair sat in silence as the Time Lord considered the possibility. His ship was special in her own right, it was entirely possible that it could plant the information on regeneration into Martha's mind. Then what else could she plant in his companions' minds?

"What should we do then?" Martha asked. The petite human was under no impression that it was something that could be fixed with the touch of a button. "What about the arch that you used to make you human?"

The Doctor shoved his hands into his pockets. "We don't have a watch for you. And even if we did, it's not meant to be used that way."

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Silver: Woohoo. I have every intention of developing Martha's Time Lord half.