Rose gazed up at him with a smile, gently ruffling his hair. He looked at her and sighed.
"Okay, fine, yes." Rose let out a joyful cry and pressed a chaste kiss to her husband's mouth. "After all its your TARDIS too."
"Thank you!" She told him. Running from the room.
"Just wait a while before we say anything." The Doctor shook his head slightly before bending down to pick up Tala. He cradled her gently, as she watched him, smiling. "Sometimes your mommy can be a handful." He told the tot, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. He gentle grasped Tala's hand. "Shall we pay your Uncle Jack a visit?" He asked, Tala giggled at the thought. He began to move but a small cry stopped him, he turned back. "We can't forget your toy can we?" He cooed softly. He bent down and picked up her donkey. He passed it to her, trying not to laugh as she struggled to hold it. "Come on then."
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The Doctor entered the control room, Jack jumped back from the controls immediately.
"So, we're taking Martha back?" Jack asked.
"Yeah," He shifted Tala in his arm slightly, Tala giggled as he pressed a kiss to her temple. Her toy bounced against his back as he freed his hand. Theta pressed a few buttons. "Rose is with her, helping her collect all the things they bought together on Glondor."
As he turned Tala saw Jack for the first time and tried to reach for him, dropping her toy. She began to sniffle slightly, the Doctor looked around trying to find out what was wrong. Jack bent down and picked up her toy, passing it to her and stroking her hair gently.
"Hello Tala." He told her softly. Tala made a funny noise that Jack took as a greeting.
"She should be saying her first word soon." The Doctor told him.
"But she's not…"
"Time Lords advance slightly faster, it's to do with…"
"Here we are." Rose cut in suddenly. The Doctor shot her a questioning look, she shook her head slightly. The TARDIS suddenly landed, softly, sensing Tala in the room.
"There we go…perfect landing, which isn't easy in such a tight spot." The Doctor told them babbling. Martha stepped out, looking around her front room. She turned round as the others stepped out of the TARDIS, Jack placed her bags down against the wall. "The morning after we left, so you've only been gone about 12 hours." A small snort from his wife made him stop. "No time at all, really."
"But all the stuff we've done—Shakespeare, New New York, old New York, Glondor?"
"Yep, all in one night—relatively speaking. Everything should be just as it was—books, CDs, laundry. So, back were you were, as promised."
"This is it?" Martha asked, wanting to know. The Doctor nodded to Rose, she moved closer to Martha.
"Well, actually…" Rose began only to be cut off by the phone ringig.
"Hi! I'm out! Leave a message!"
"I'm sorry." Martha told them.
"Martha, are you there? Pick it up, will you?" A woman began.
"It's Mum. It'll wait."
"All right then, pretend that you're out if you like. I was only calling to say that your sister's on TV. On the news of all things. Just thought you might be interested." Martha reached over for the remote to turn on the TV. An old man appeared on the screen.
"The details are top secret—"
"How could Tish end up on the news?"
"Tonight, I will demonstrate a device…" The man continued.
"She's got a new job. PR for some research lab." Martha told them,
"…with the push of a single button, I will change what it means to be human." The man continued, Martha reached across and turned the TV off.
"Sorry. You were saying?"
"Well we were wondering…"
"Did he say he was going to change what it means to be human?" The Doctor interrupted before looking sheepishly at Rose, realising what he'd done. Rose shook her head.
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"Are you sure Jack didn't mind being left behind for a while?" Rose asked as she helped her husband search through the wardrobe.
"Nah he didn't mind, besides we'll be back there soon." He told her.
"Are you absolutely sure you put it back in here?" She asked from the upper level.
"Positive." She sighed.
"Can't you get the TARDIS to give you another one?"
"I never give up Rose." He heard a mumble from above. "What was that?"
"Nothing!" She protested. A triumphant cry came from below.
"Found it!" Rose walked down towards him. She laughed at his grin. She pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.
"Hurry up and get changed." She told him before rummaging through the wardrobe to find a suitable dress.
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Rose took a last sip of water before washing up her cup. As she turned she nearly jumped out of her skin as she found her husband right behind her. She put a hand to her chest to stop her hearts from pounding.
"You look beautiful," He told her. She smiled, reaching up to tie his bow tie.
"Thank you." He wrapped his arms around her waist.
"We could always 'forget' to go to this event tonight." Rose wrapped her arms around his neck.
"You mean just you and me, no worries…except," He leaned in closer.
"Except?"
"You'll never forgive yourself if you didn't find out how being human was going to be changed." She stepped back.
"How come you know me so well?" He asked, staring in her eyes.
"Because I do." She told him.
"That's helpful." He muttered, she rolled her eyes.
"You actually sat down and talked with me. I know your habits, how you feel, how you think and I love you for it." He took his hands in hers, as he began to speak the TARDIS whined telling them time was short. "Tala!" Rose gasped. "We've got to take her to mum's!"
"Do we have to?" He whined before stomping out like a small child.
"Yes we do!" She laughed.
"There'll be trouble trying to get her back!"
"This event/party/ball or whatever is no place for a child." He nodded slightly; Rose sat down on the chair in the control room.
"Will you mother mind if I land in her living room?"
"I don't think so." She smiled at him, as they landed he collected Tala's baby bag.
As soon as he stepped out, he was greeted by a stinging sensation across his right cheek.
"Rose!" He whined. Cradling his cheek, thankful that he hadn't been holding Tala at the time. "What was that for?!"
"That was for nearly smashing the windows and TV!" He looked round and realised what she meant, the TARDIS was literally touching the glass. "Why are you dressed like that?" She asked studying his tux.
"I'm going swimming." He muttered sarcastically. Jackie raised her hand causing him to jump back.
"Mum can you look after Tala for tonight, where we're going isn't really suitable for children."
"Fine." Jackie pulled a reluctant face but quickly grabbed Tala from Rose.
"We'll be back later," Rose gave her mother a quick hug and gently kissed Tala's cheek. "Be good for your Nan." The Doctor bent down and pressed a kiss to Tala's forehead.
"Misbehave for your grandmother." He smiled sweetly as he stood up to full height.
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As soon as the pair stepped out of the TARDIS and into Martha's flat, hysterical laughter filled the room.
"Martha, do you see that red mark on the Doctor's cheek?" Martha nodded. "That is from the trademark Jackie Tyler slap."
"Oh shut up Jack!" Theta moaned. Rose squeezed his hand.
"This tux is nothing but trouble every time I wear it."
"It was fine at our wedding." She told him cheekily, he grinned at her.
"Come on then!" He told them. Jack pulled him across to one side. The Doctor pulled a confused look.
"We need to do something about that cheek." A glint appeared in Jack's eye. "Rose have you got your make up on you?" The Doctor only had one reply to that.
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Rose and the Doctor stood in the corner of the room, talking as Martha met up with her family. Jack floated around behind Martha.
"I never though I'd say this but…this is boring." Rose told him, stifling a yawn. He wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his cheek on her hair.
"It'll get better." He promised her, she turned slightly in his arms, leaning up to kiss him. He gladly responded.
"Why aren't we running round looking for technology? Hacking into files? Snooping in general?" He snorted slightly.
"Rose all the technology is in this room." He gestured around to the huge white circular chamber in the centre of the room. Rose sighed and nestled further into his embrace.
"Is Martha calling us over?" Rose craned her neck to see better, Martha was waving them over. "Come on." She stepped slightly out of his embrace; he held his hand out for her. Rose took his arm. As they approached they saw what they assumed to be Martha's mother and brother approaching her.
"Oh joy, domestics." Rose smacked him across the arm, he put on a fake smile, Rose followed suit. They stood behind Martha.
"You disappeared last night." Martha's mother told her accusingly, eyeing up the Doctor and Jack.
"I...just went home."
"On your own?" Rose stepped forward as Martha's mother looked down her nose at her husband.
"These are friends of mine, the Doctor, Rose and Jack."
"Doctor what?" Martha's mother jumped in.
"John Smith." The Doctor inserted smoothly. "Lovely to meet you, Mrs Jones. Heard a lot about you."
"Have you? What have you heard, then?" She asked trying to catch him out, wanting to know everything about her daughter's friend.
"Oh, you know, that you're Martha's mother and…um… No, actually, that's…that's about it. We haven't had much time to chat, you know, been busy."
"Busy? Doing what, exactly?"
"Oh…you know…stuff." Tapping on glass stopped their conversation the group turned to see the professor about to make an announcement.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I'm going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch and wonder. Tomorrow, you'll awake to a world which will be changed forever."
"I don't think I can watch this." Jack winced and turned away slightly.
Lazarus entered the chamber; two female technicians started the machinery at the columns of instruments behind the chamber. A high-pitched whistle filled the room as the four pillars surrounding the chamber, growing faster and faster in pace creating and energy field as they did so.
"Something's wrong. It's overloading." The Doctor looked at Rose, the pair ran towards the controls, he pulled out his screwdriver as Rose began flicking switches.
"Somebody stop him! Get him away from those controls!" A woman screamed.
"Do you want the building to blow up?" Rose screamed, bluntly. The Doctor pulled out one of the main wires. They stood together as Jack and Martha ran towards the chamber door.
"Help me open this." Jack told her, they wrenched open the door coughing as smoke came through first. Lazarus appeared looking roughly the same age as Jack. Photographers began to take pictures.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Richard Lazarus. I am 76 years old and I am reborn!"
"I thought only Time Lords could make themselves look younger."
"They are, unless you count shape shifters and plastic surgery."
"It's a trick then, yeah?"
"Oh, it's not a trick. I wish it were." He turned to face her completely worried. "He just changed what it means to be human."
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The Doctor scanned Martha's hand with his screwdriver, once she and Jack returned to them.
"That's a scanner as well?" Martha asked astonished.
"Yeah, I used it when we travelled to the 1940s and to check on Rose when she was pregnant." His voice grew quieter; he looked at the screwdriver closely, interpreting the readings. "Oh, look at that." He cooed, scanning again.
"What is it?" His wife asked from behind, confused.
"His DNA just changed, its unstable, constantly mutating."
"That means Lazarus has changed his own molecular patterns."
"Hypersonic sound waves to destabilize the cell structure then a mutagenic program to manipulate the coding in the protein strands. Basically, he hacked into his own genes and instructed them to rejuvenate."
"Almost like your regeneration." He smiled.
"Similar but completely wrong. Something in his DNA has been activated and won't let him stabilize. Something that's trying to change him."
"Doctor what's he going to become." He wrapped an arm around his wife.
"I dunno but I think we need to find out."
"The woman he was with said they were going upstairs." Martha nodded confirming what Jack said. "I'll go with Martha upstairs, you and Rose stay down here." Before the Doctor could reply the pair had run out of the room. The Doctor looked at Rose, in complete disbelief.
"Does he know who's in charge?"
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"What are you doing?" Rose asked, watching her husband modify his screwdriver.
"I might be able to track him. His DNA is mutating, making him unique." The screwdriver began to beep.
"Got your phone?" Rose asked.
"Where's yours?"
"Jack's got mine, his hasn't been replaced yet." He handed over his phone; Rose immediately started dialling her number. She lifted it up and pressed it to Theta's ear.
"Jack he's on the roof." The Doctor turned round and yelled at the people.
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Jack and Martha ran into the main hall.
"What's he look like?" Rose asked, as her husband was trying to eradicate the people from the building as well as trying to locate Lazarus.
"You'll see him sooner or later Rose!" Rose rolled her eyes at her Jack's comment.
"Ever seen the Mummy Returns?" Rose nodded, Martha continued. "The Scorpion King."
"Seriously?"
"Completely." Despite the situation the two laughed. Suddenly an explosion echoed through the building.
"Where is Theta?"
"FOUND HIM!" The three sounded together.
As they ran down the corridors and up the stairs Rose threw off her shoes, Martha followed suit.
"Don't blame you." Martha smiled, Rose held out her hand to grab Martha as she slipped slightly on the stairs. "Thanks."
"No problem." As the group ran around the corner Jack ran into the Doctor.
"How did - ?"
"Explosion." Rose and Jack told him together.
"Does he blow things up often?" Martha asked trying to get her breath back.
"The first time I met him it was my job, then when Jack met him even made you blow up your ship…"
"Yes I blow things up a lot." The Doctor forced out though gritted teeth. Rose and Jack gave each other high fives. A roar echoed through the building. "I think I annoyed him, a lot."
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"Get in." The Doctor told Rose.
"I'm not getting in there." Rose glared at him.
"Get inside."
"No chance." She turned round, he picked her up and bundled her inside. The door closed on them. "Well done, now how do we get out?" Rose tried to cross her arms but found she couldn't.
"I was going to think of something when we got inside, which as the original plan."
"We're inside, what's the plan?"
"I haven't come up with it yet." Rose felt like banging her head against the wall. The Doctor reached down into his pocket for his sonic screwdriver.
"It a good job we're married," She told him as he fidgeted.
"Sorry." Rose shifted slightly as he slid down.
"Aren't you glad we got my mother to babysit now?" She smirked slightly hearing his grumble. "So, no aliens involved this time?"
"Nope, strictly human this time."
"Told you it was boring." She rested her head against the chamber wall, she felt his cheeky grin rather than saw it. The device began to start up causing the Doctor to stop what he was doing.
Suddenly the chamber plunged into darkness. The Doctor carefully stood back up after many, 'ow's and 'careful's.
"This could be a problem." He told her, at her silence he continued. "The door is electrically operated, so…"
"The power needs to be on to open it." He nodded in the darkness.
"Which stupid ape had this idea?"
"I prefer power cut to being mutated."
"How about when we run out of air?"
"Thank you Mr 'I'm a Time Lord so I have a right to be pessimistic'!"
"Your welcome Mrs 'I'm I Time Lady so I can irritate my husband by pointing out his flaws'!"
"Well 'John' why do you get us into these situations?" Neither of them noticed the electricity come back on and the door slide open.
"Why don't you think of ways of getting us out of these problems 'Joan'?" A coughing brought them out of their conversation.
"Martha this is exactly why leaving them alone doesn't work." Jack cut in stopping their argument. Rose peered round the chamber door, seeing Lazarus on the floor.
"What did you do?"
"Created a pulse to shock Lazarus." Medics entered and collected Lazarus, the group followed the them outside. Immediately Martha was pounced upon by her family. The Doctor reattached his fake smile.
"Ah, Mrs Jones, we still haven't finished out chat." The Doctor's face snapped to one side, as Francine's hand connected with his cheek.
"Mum, what are you doing?"
"Two in one day!" He moaned, Rose stepped forward towards Francine.
"How dare you hit my husband!"
"Your husband?" Tish asked, surprised.
"Didn't the wedding rings give us away?" The Doctor placed a hand on her back in an effort to calm her down. "If you ever touch my husband again, I will make sure I have charges brought against you.2 Francine backed off slightly.
"He is dangerous! I've been told things."
"Why by?" Rose demanded. "Please don't say TORCHWOOD." Francine ignored her.
"Look around you! Nothing but death and destruction!"
"This isn't his fault. He saved us, all of us!" Martha partly yelled, upset at the offence caused to her friends. A loud crash came from the ambulance, Jack yanked open the doors. Rose gasped as she saw the husks that were once medics.
"Lazarus, back from the dead. Should've known, really." He pulled out his screwdriver
"Where's he gone?"
"That way. The church."
"Cathedral. It's Southwark Cathedral. He told me."
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Rose held her head as the organ increased in volume. Jack held onto Martha tightly, stopping her from falling completely from the balcony as Lazarus knocked her over.
Lazarus suddenly fell completely to the floor.
Rose was amazed that the Doctor was already next to Lazarus when they reached the bottom, he was kneeling over Lazarus. Rose pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. He stood up slowly.
"I never knew you could play Doc."
"Well, when you hang around with Beethoven you're bound to pick up a few things." He laughed slightly. "And when you're trying to get your daughter to sleep, it helps if you can play something soothing for her."
"Where's the organ in the TARDIS?" Martha asked.
"Actually I use the piano in the 3rd library." Rose smiled, looking down at her watch. "It's past two in the morning! Mum will kill us." Martha grinned as Theta turned pale.
"Meet you back at the TARDIS!" The Doctor yelled as they ran out of the church.
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Theta gingerly knocked on the door to his mother-in-law's flat. The door flew open.
"What time is this?"
"Hello to you too Jackie!" He told her as he brushed past her. Jackie looked to Rose for an answer she shook her head slightly.
"He's a little cranky, got slapped by Martha's mother." The Doctor reappeared, holding a sleeping Tala.
"Has she been alright?" Rose asked.
"She only fell asleep about an hour ago. She's been screaming ever since you left." The Doctor tried to mask his smirk but not before Rose saw it.
"We'd better be getting back to Jack and Martha." Rose told her. "I'll ring you in the morning. Thanks for looking after her." Jackie hugged Rose.
"Be careful."
"I will." Jackie hugged him. "Now get out of here I want some sleep."
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"So this is goodbye." Martha said as the rest of the group stood in front of the TARDIS.
"Well actually, we were wondering if…" Rose paused, waiting for an interruption. "You'd like to join us more on a permanent basis." Martha stood there speechless. "You don't have to come if you don't want to."
"I'd like to come." Martha gasped, the group smiled. "But why?"
"You've helped us out a lot over the last month or so and we would like Tala to get to know her Aunt Martha a lot more."
"'Aunt Martha'?!" She asked.
"You don't have to be 'Aunt' if you don't want."
"I'd be honoured." She told them, tears coming to her eyes at their gesture.
"Right now that the domestics out the way, you'd better pack."
"Mr domestic always." The Doctor leaned down and kissed her, Rose responded gladly.
"I'll help you pack." Jack offered. Martha laughed as they left the living room, leaving the couple alone.
TBC