Constance drummed her fingers against the console. It had been exactly three months, 6 days, 14 hours, and 22 seconds since they had crashed on Earth (not that she was counting, of course… drat this internal clock). John busied himself with trying to fix the TARDIS, and she had needed to take her mind off what had happened, so she went exploring. Earth was interesting, to say the least. Especially the inhabitants, although they reminded her of her own people lost to her forever. But it all became boring after a while (especially since John didn't let her go out after dark or beyond the city limits without him there), so she took to watching him try to fix their ship… which was just as-or even more- boring.
With a final twist of a screw, John pulled himself from under the console. Handing him a cloth, Constance couldn't help but laugh at his oil and dirt smudged face. Wiping his forehead and ignoring her giggles, he dashed to the other side of the console.
"That should do it!" He said, pressing down a few buttons.
"Really? Like… we could finally leave?" She brightened at this.
He nodded, grinning. Like most (if not all) Timelords, traveling was in their blood, and being tied to one spot for several months had given them a severe case of cabin fever.
The engine sputtered to life, and the lights flickered on. Constance squealed and John laughed, the first real laugh he had since they got here. But then… nothing.
"What?" The grins on their faces disappeared as fast as they had come. John felt his way to the control panel and flicked a few switches. The bright emergency lights glared down giving them a frail, washed-out look, which only accentuated the disappointment radiating from their features.
"That's it." John threw down the cloth and angrily made his way towards the stairs.
"That's it?" Constance echoed, her voice barley above a whisper. "You're just going to give up?"
He paused. "There's nothing more I can do." He sighed as he ran his fingers through his flaming red hair, still facing away from her. "I've done every single thing I've thought of to get her up and running again. I just don't have the parts to fix her properly. Only on Gallifrey and maybe two other planets in five hundred years I could get them, but we'd need a time machine to get there…" His voice trailed off, and in a sudden flare of rage his fist made contact with the wall. For half a second he forgot what had happened in a flash of pain.
"That's not going to help." He finally turned and saw her standing there, tears rolling down her face, but strong; hands planted firmly on her hips in the best impression of his mother she could muster.
He leaned his head against the wall. "I'm sorry, Con." He whispered. "I tried so hard. I tried-" His reserve fell off like a mask, and he crumpled to the floor in tears. He had held back his emotions, trying to be strong for her, but one can only do that for so long until they break.
He heard soft footsteps behind him, then a hand on his shoulder. She sat beside him, her very presence being a comfort. A thousand thoughts coursed through his mind; a thousand things he wanted to say. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. She understood everything, though, and wrapped him in a tight embrace.
FIVE YEARS LATER
"Marthaaaa…" The Doctor whined. "How much longer?" What have I done? He grumbled to himself. The day had started normally enough; with him tinkering around with the TARDIS and she forcing him to eat something. He would comply by grabbing a banana ("That's not enough! If you were a real Doctor, like me, you'd know that!") and get back to work. She would fix herself a proper breakfast, to set as an example of what you should have for the first meal of the day, and watch him until the TARDIS had had enough. So when he cut the next wire, she burned him. Martha dressed his wound, and then mentioned that she'd like to do some shopping. He set the co-ordinates for a grocery store on earth, but the TARDIS had other plans. When they stepped out of the ship, instead of seeing London, they were greeted with a large sign that boasted Welcome to Shiblor, home to the biggest shopping mall in the galaxy! The Doctor laughed and said something about how Shiblor literally translates into mall, but Martha didn't hear him. She was ecstatic, and he knew he was in for a long day.
"Just a few more minutes, Doctor." She said absently, for the umpteenth time that hour. Travelling with the Doctor had is pros and cons, one con being the Doctor's nagging and whining. But she was naturally a patient person, and had soon learned to block it out. She tried looking over her list, but something was bugging her.
She had started to feel uneasy shortly after landing on the planet, but had ignored it in shopping. Then it had progressed until she felt someone was always behind her; never close, never far.
"Doctor?" She looked up from her list. He had his mouth open, presumably to again protest about how long they had been there, but quickly shut it at her glare.
"Yes?" He squeaked after a short moment of silence.
She sighed. He could be such a baby sometimes. "Do you feel… like someone is watching you?"
His demeanour instantly changed, and he looked around in a very secret-agent like way. "Yes," he whispered. "I've felt it for some days now."
"Someone's been tracking us?!" She screeched. The Doctor covered her mouth, to which she clawed off and repeated, whispering, "Someone's been tracking us?!"
It was his turn to sigh. "Yes. At least I think so."
"What are you gonna do about it, then?!"
"Relax, Martha, if they wanted us dead, we'd be dead by now." He turned and started heading back to the TARDIS.
"You can't just- just- walk away!" She spluttered, jogging to keep up with his long-legged stride. His words made her anything but relaxed.
"I have been doing something about it, you know." He said quietly.
"Well that's a relief." She said with more than just a touch of sarcasm. "What?"
"Wherever we've landed over the past several days I've had the TARDIS do a scan of all the lifeforms on the planet." He stated proudly.
"So?" Bloody Timelord. "How does that help us?"
"It means, Martha…" Bloody human. Needs everything spelled out to her. "…that I'll be able look through the data and see which ones were there wherever we've been. It'll narrow it down, at least."
They walked in silence for several minutes, thinking. The Doctor wasn't too worried; most of the lifeforms the scanner picked up were peaceable creatures. Martha, on the other hand, was extremely worried; but if the Doctor wasn't, why should she?
There was a rustle in the bushes behind them, and several pairs of bright glowing eyes peered out, accompanied with loud snuffling. The Doctor put his hand out to get Martha's attention.
"Don't turn around. Don't stop." He whispered. "Act casual." He grabbed her hand and started whistling a lively tune.
"Why?" She breathed, her heart pounding in time to his song.
"No time. If I say run…" Four large, wolfish dogs jumped onto the path behind them. Her heart stopped beating all together when she heard one cry, "There he is! Get him!"
"…RUN!" The Doctor finished. He dragged her along behind him, all the while screaming for her to not turn around.
He shoved her into the TARDIS, falling on top of her in the process. They scrambled to their feet, and the Doctor ran to the console to dematerialize the ship.
He spun around to face her. "Did they see you?" He yelled the question, grabbing her by the shoulders. Martha had never seen him this agitated. "Did they see your face?" He shook her a little.
"No! I don't- I don't think so." She shouted back. "Why is it so important?!"
He turned back to the control panel and started typing furiously into the keyboard, then pausing sigh and run his fingers through his wild brown hair and down over his face. "Martha, do you trust me?"
She was a little surprised at the question, but answered without any remark. "Of course."
"Good." He pressed a few buttons, and a weird-looking headset with a jumble of wires fell from the ceiling. "Because I'll have to become human."
"What…? Why? DOCTOR!" She grabbed his arm to get his full attention. "You're scaring me!"
He stopped untangling the mess of wires and took her by the shoulders, gently this time. She relaxed slightly at his touch, but was still trembling.
"Martha, the aliens that are following us are the Family of Blood. They're spirits that can possess a living thing, if you like, and their lifespans are only three months. That's why they want me. They want the consciousness of a Timelord to live forever." He stated simply, giving her the condensed explanation.
"So if you're human, they won't be able to sniff you out." Even though she was far from completely understanding, it was starting to make more sense.
"Exactly." He patted her shoulders and gave her an encouraging smile, which she tried to return, but failed.
"How could you tell it was them? And why didn't they show up on the scanner?"
"In answer to number one…" The Doctor adjusted the headset to fit him properly, "I could feel them trying to suck the life out of me. Literally." Before Martha could reply he continued, "To answer number two, they don't have bodies. I set the TARDIS to only scan for lifeforms with bodies, as I thought only bodily creatures would be of any threat to us." He set down the headset and started typing in co-ordinates. "Remember when I said I was the last of my people?" He asked, abruptly changing the subject.
"Uh-huh. You said they all died in a war… or something." She came up beside him.
"Well, I just found out several weeks ago that that's not entirely true."
Martha's face lit up, a stark contrast to what it was a few seconds prior. "That's great! Isn't it? I mean, you won't be alone anymore-" The Doctor put up a hand to stop her. "What? Aren't you glad?"
"Yes-" He let himself half smile before continuing, "-but if they knew that it was my fault that they lost their planet and their people…"
"But then why are we going to see them?" She asked, assuming that was where he had set the co-ordinates to.
"Because they're sitting ducks, so to speak. Their TARDIS is down, so they won't be able to know if and when they come." He sighed. "I'd rather face two members of the High Council than let the Family of Blood live forever."