Title: Age Concern
Author: MYBIGBLUEBOX
Series: Doctor Who
Rating: K+
Genre: Romance/ General
Spoilers: Some spoilers for Doomsday and very, very subtle spoiler for The Age of Steel ( I know the episodes are ages old, sorry folks!)
Characters: Doctor (Tenth), Rose Tyler and Martha Jones
Disclaimer: God knows how many times you've all read these disclaimers but I'm going to say it all again just coz. I don't own these characters or the story line this fanfic is based on. They belong to our lord and master 'The BBC' ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Summary: After Doomsday Rose goes to work for Torchwood. The Doctor and Martha struggle to get her back to their world but when everything seems to be going to plan and fatal mistake leads to disaster, and the Doctor must fight to keep his companion and love alive
Dedications: MY DEDICATED BETA READER GENERALJESS, THANK YOU SO, SO, SO, SO MUCH.
Warnings: May contain a little bad language further along in the story.
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The Doctor could feel Rose tremble under his hands as he helped her onto the medical bay's examination table. There was an awful, sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He could feel it roaring inside him as he ran the sonic screwdriver over Rose's body. She watched him with anxious eyes as he examined her. His face hardened a little bit more with every second that passed.
'What is it?' Her voice was already hoarse; a sore throat had nothing on the pain that tore up her throat now. The Doctor looked up at her and sighed.
'I don't know.' His voice was all but a whisper only adding to Rose's already mounting fear. She coughed hard again, and the Doctor placed a hand on her forehead, looking down at her with a worried expression upon his face. She was clammy under his palm.
'Rose, are you feeling hot or cold?'
'Cold.' The Doctor's mind began to think over any probable causes for his lover's sudden illness. Finding nothing that fit the description of what Rose was , he ran the sonic screwdriver over her again.
'What are you doing?' Rose asked, looking up at him with dark eyes.
'Taking some readings, I'll put them into the Tardis' computer. Maybe she can come up with a solution.' Rose nodded and rested her head back on the pillow, a frown covering her face.
The Doctor paused to study her face, she was already turning grey, and a purple lining was just becoming visible around her eyes. What ever this was it worked fast. Whipping around, he strode over to the monitor and keyboard that stuck out from the wall of the med bay. Sticking his screwdriver into the side of the monitor the Doctor began to type hastily. The TARDIS pushed insistently at the back of his mind.
'I know we don't have long. Help me out here, tell me what this is.' The Doctor muttered under his breath.
After several more minutes of searching proved futile, the Doctor sighed and glared at the screen, thumping it hard with his fist. Rose woke with a start and ran her eyes over the Doctor's hunched over form.
'Find anything?' Her voice cracked as she winced, bringing a hand to her aching her throat. The Doctor heard her pain and cursed himself for not being able to help her. He turned to face her and shook his head sadly. Rose held his gaze for a moment, another fit of coughing forced her to squeeze her eyes shut.
The Doctor approached her, taking her hand in his.
'It's going to be alright love.' Rose nodded slowly and painfully. He squeezed her hand, trying to hold down his own terrified emotions. There must be something he'd over looked, anything to make her this ill. Frantically he replayed the last twenty four hours in his mind. He'd gotten Rose back, set the coordinates for the Time Vortex, there'd been some turbulence, nothing he couldn't handle. What else was there? He'd examined the TARDIS for damage finding... that feeling... that feeling that something wasn't quite right. That button-what if, what if Martha had pressed it? Martha wouldn't lie to him, would she? Better go and find out.
'Rose, sweetheart, I'm just going to find Martha. I'll be right back I promise.' She squeezed his hand to let him know she'd heard him. He kissed her forehead and raced off down the corridor.
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The Doctor pounded on Martha's bedroom door.
'Martha? Martha! This is important, open the door!' Stilling his hand so that he could listen for a reply, the Doctor could feel anger rising up in his throat. He was about to knock again when he heard a muffled sound coming from behind the door. Pressing his ear up against the wood paneling, he listened to the silence behind it, until his ears picked up the barely audible sound of a moan. Tearing his ear away from the door, the Doctor threw his weight against it, breaking the lock and forcing it open.
Martha lay on the floor, blood trickling lazily from her mouth, eyes shut. The Doctor raced over to her and checked her vital signs. She was breathing with a rapid pulse. Bending over her, the Doctor called her name.
'Martha, can you hear me? Martha, open your eyes.' In her barely conscious state, Martha mumbled something that the Doctor couldn't hear. Once again the Doctor tried to rouse her, but when it became apparent she wasn't going to get up, he picked up her limp form and carried her to the med bay.
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'Doctor?' Rose sounded so weak already, the Doctor longed to take her pain from her. Lying Martha on the second examining table he examined her the same way he had Rose. Rose turned her head to the Doctor, watching what he was doing.
'Is she alright?' The Doctor shook his head. Rose closed her eyes again, the sheets of blackness that floated around the edges of her vision beckoned to her.
The Doctor placed the sonic screwdriver back into the monitor and let the Tardis analyze the samples. The Doctor cursed under his breath, once again thumping the monitor in his anger. Rose turned her head to look at him, her neck aching under the strain of moving.
'Doctor.' He returned to her side, looking grim, filling Rose's heart with fear. The questioning look in her eyes told him that she wanted answers. Taking her hand once again in his, he met her eyes, his fear apparent to her.
'What is happening to Martha and what is happening to you is the same thing. Your body is aging, rapidly...beyond my control. I... I think Martha pushed the wrong button on the console. Time travel was always risky, you know that, I try to be as careful as I can be but I can't do it all myself. Your organs are going to age before the outer body begins to show signs of aging. The coughing is… is because the lining of your lungs is breaking down and blood is filling them; your body's trying to expel it. Rose, I...I don't know what to do for you. I... I.' He fell into silence hanging his head as tears escaped his eyes. Rose looked at him as she tried to take in this news. She lifted a hand with difficulty to his face and comforted him with her touch. He lifted his eyes to her, she could see the raw emotion in his face, her fear cut her deep but she refused to give into it, there was still fight left in her.
'Why is Martha out of it, we where together when the accident happened. Shouldn't we both be unconscious?'
'You absorbed the Time Vortex. I'm a Time Lord I can withstand most of what goes wrong in here. Time doesn't have an effect on my body, my regeneration sees to that, it also protects me from things like this. When you absorbed the Time Vortex, it had the same sort of effect on you. It's given you a bit of immunity, like an inoculation. Martha's never been exposed to that, she's more vulnerable than us.' Rose nodded, the Time Vortex was the cause and a temporary barrier to it's own effects-she was never going to get her head around the way the universe works.
'So what can we do?' The Doctor still looked into her eyes, not hiding from her, giving her the undeniable truth of the situation, no matter how much Rose wanted to deny it was happening.
'I.. I don't know what I can do for you. I've got to take a look at the TARDIS and hope that she gives me some answers.' Rose closed here eyes against the tears of fear that threatened to fall.
'So.. so what your saying is... that I might die?' The Doctor placed a hand on her forehead and spoke to her in a soft whisper.
'I'm not going to let anything happen to you.' Rose opened her eyes with some difficulty; she wanted to meet his gaze.
'Doctor, if I die..' The Doctor pulled back from her, her hand still in his.
'Don't say that. It's not going to happen.' Rose placed her hand on top of their joined ones.
'You listen to me. If I die, I don't want you to blame yourself for this. It was not your fault, it was an accident.' The Doctor couldn't stand her gaze any longer and turned his face down to look at her frail hand in his. There was a lump like a rock in his throat, and cold, like ice water ran down his spine as grief overtook him.
'Look at me, please.' Her gentle plea made him lift his face. Tears welling in his eyes at the sight of his Rose so grey and weak and...dying.
'I love travelling with you. Nothing, not even this would make me think twice. I love you, you know that. If you love me, you have to promise me that you will not blame yourself for this.' He nodded slowly, bending down he rested his forehead against hers. She could feel his tears trickle down her face. Martha groaned on the bed next to them, forcing them to pull apart. The Doctor moved over to her side.
'Martha…Martha, can you hear me?' Groaning again, Martha opened her eyes a crack to meet the Doctor's stony face. She opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't get her voice to work. Gently the Doctor repeated what he had told Rose, and saw the same fear that had shown in her eyes overtake Martha's.
Looking between his two girls, the Doctor could feel himself despairing with every minute that passed. He took their hands and kissed their knuckles in each in turn and promised them that he'd save them. As he left them and ran down the corridors of the TARDIS to the control room, he knew in his hearts that time was running out.
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The Doctor leaned over the monitor in the TARDIS' control room, breathing heavily. There was nothing that could save them. The only chance he had would be to take them to the Healing Halls of Madion. They could work miracles, but this may be too much of a miracle even for the Madions to perform. There was another way. The Doctor stared darkly at the screen, as if damning it for presenting him with such awful information. One could give their life force to another, their life replenishing the others life force and repairing the damage caused to their internal organs. He couldn't, no wouldn't consider it. To ask one of his girls to give their life for the other was as good as murder. Thumping the Tardis angrily, the Doctor paced around the console. Another bout of coughing reached his ears and tore at his heart. Striding off down the corridor, he approached the med bay.
Rose looked worse, but Martha looked like death itself. She panted desperately for breath as cold sweat ran down her face in rivers. He paused by her bedside to squeeze her hand affectionately, if only he could do something for them. Gently removing his hand form Martha's, the Doctor moved over to Rose, bracing himself against the bed with his hands gripping the sides. She breathed as deeply as Martha and had the same pale look about her. She turned her face towards him, her eyes rimmed with purple. He pressed a hand to her forehead and brought her hand up to his face to kiss her fingers lightly.
'Anything?' Rose whispered to him. Sighing he brought up a chair to her bedside.
'I can try to get you to the Healing Halls of Madion, they may be able to help you. I don't know if either of you will make the journey.' The words stuck in his throat, and he bent his head to hide the fresh tears that swam in his eyes. Rose squeezed his hand weakly, giving him the strength to continue.
'The only way I could guarantee that either of you would survive the journey would be if the one of you was to give their life force to the other. I can't do it for you, it only works with members of the same species even a half breed like myself wouldn't work.' Rose lay in silence not sure what to say.
'How would you give your life force to someone else?'
'The theory is that all you need is skin on skin contact, if it's really what the person wants in their heart then the energy will transfer itself on it's own. It's quite a sacrifice, death is almost certain and there is a varying degree of pain, depending on how much you give.' Rose stared at the ceiling for a long moment, considering.
'How much would we need?' The Doctor looked down into her eyes .
'No, no way. Your not doing it. I'll get you BOTH there, alive.'
'This is my decision isn't it? There is no guarantee that we'll both be alive when we get there.' Her eyes slipped closed as exhaustion over took her. The Doctor sat by her side for a few minutes, waiting for her energy to return and for her to open her gorgeous eyes again. When after three minutes she still hadn't stirred, he called her name gently. Still she didn't awake.
'Rose?' The Doctor stood, feeling for a pulse, his fingers meeting a very rapid flow of blood beneath her skin.
'Rose! Open your eyes!' Frantic the Doctor ran from the room to the console to fetch his screwdriver, fear pounding through him.
Martha opened her eyes and scanned the room through heavy lids. One had to give their life for the other. He needed Rose, he'd never see her the way he saw her. No matter how much she wished she was Rose Tyler the truth of the matter was she wasn't, she'd never have his heart. Rolling herself over with extreme difficulty, Martha rolled off the bed, crashing to the floor. Groaning deeply, she crawled her way slowly, painfully across the tiled floor to Rose's outstretched hand that had fallen over the edge of the bed. Sitting herself against the cold edges of the bed Martha looked up at Rose's limp hand. The Doctor was her life, she'd give him anything he asked of her. A tear fell down her face, she didn't want to die, but for him, for him she'd face hell itself. Reaching up, she paused inches away from Rose's hand.
'I love you Doctor.' She touched the tips of Rose's fingers and felt the pull as her life drained form her.
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The Doctor heard her scream as he snatched up his screwdriver from the monitor in the console room. Running like never before in his life, he skidded to a halt as he reached the med bay. Rose lay gasping desperately on her bed, awake and looking a little pinker. His heart retched as he saw Martha slumped across the floor, grey and lifeless. He raced to her and checked for a pulse, nothing. Heaving breathes passed his lips as he fought for control over his emotions. Picking up her still form in his arms, he placed her back onto her bed and stood for a moment carefully tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Tears fell down his face as he kissed her forehead. Gripping the edge of the bed he muttered words to his poor companion under his breath.
'Martha, you shouldn't have done it. I could have got us there. If only you'd waited, I should have been here...' Rose sat up shakily on her bed. With a desperate effort, she put her feet on the floor and prepared to stand. Her legs where too weak to hold her weight, and as soon as she stood up they buckled under her, sending Rose crashing to the floor. The Doctor came to her aid and help her stand, blushing slightly with embarrassment Rose gingerly tried once again to stand on her own, with no luck.
'Well, doesn't look like I'm going to be going anywhere for awhile.' Rose sighed and looked up into the Doctor's face. Seeing his pain made her want to cry, and she raised a hand to his face. Turning his face into her palm he kissed it gently.
'Do you want to talk or cry or…' The Doctor cut across Rose.
'No, I'm fine.' Rose opened her mouth to speak but before she could the Doctor swept her up into his arms and proceeded to carry her into the control room.
Placing her down on the sofa, he quickly set the coordinates for the Healing Halls. Once they were in flight, he crouched before Rose and looked into her eyes.
'How do you feel?' He placed his hand on her face, she smiled weakly at him.
'Okay for the moment. I've got a bugger of a headache and my joints are sore, but apart from that I'm good.'
'Rose, this is only a temporary solution. If I can get you to the Healing Halls the Madion's might be able to help you. I don't know how long this is going to last but if you take a turn for the worst before we get there, there's … there's nothing I can do for you. Do you understand?' Rose nodded slowly. The Doctor leaned up and kissed her forehead and held her face in his hands.
'I love you.' Rose smiled from under his chin.
'I love you too.' Pulling away the Doctor strode over to the console to monitor their progress. Rose leaned back in the old chair. The girl… Martha, was that her name?,,,had given her life for her. Rose pressed her palms to her forehead and rubbed hard to remove the last clouds of unconsciousness from her mind. Why would she make such a sacrifice for a complete stranger? Rose shook her head, the remnants of black still swimming in her mind. Suddenly the Tardis launched forward, almost throwing Rose from the sofa. The Doctor charged around the console cursing and whacking things.
'C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!' Rose pressed her hands to her temples as her headache reached phenomenal proportions. Blackness was overtaking her again, surely the effects shouldn't be wearing off already. Pain swept trough her. Unable to fight it any longer, her already exhausted body surrendered to the blackness once again.
The TARDIS touched down heavily minutes later. The Doctor took a moment to steady himself after the bumpy ride: turbulence was never easy to navigate. Racing around to the other side of the console, his heart caught in his chest as he noticed Rose had passed out yet again. Her body must have been damaged beyond what his observations had told him. Racing to her, he lifted her into his arms and made his way to the TARDIS' doors; he wasn't going to loose her again.
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Nothing moved in the cold, silent med bay. Martha's cold body lay quietly on it's bed. A gentle breeze rushed through the corridors of the great time ship, ruffling her hair. The TARDIS groaned and shuddered, a golden light appearing above Martha's still body. The Time Vortex hovered above her before seeping into her body. Martha's body glowed golden as the Time Vortex overtook her. The hand that lay across her stomach twitched slightly-Martha Jones was back.
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Bet you thought Martha was dead didn't you! Sorry about the wait for the chapter folks but I got it up now. Hopefully I'll be able to upload quicker than this in future but be warned I am doing A level now and it may take me a while before I get pieces up. Thanks for reading anyway, if I weren't for you guys I wouldn't be posting. Please review!!