Title: Saving Grace
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. I don't own these characters or the story line this fanfic is based on. They belong to our lord and master 'The BBC'.
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 a fatal mistake leads to disaster, and the Doctor must fight to keep his companion and love alive
Dedications: For Pam, I'm so sorry I couldn't do you that Heroes piece. One day I'll get around to it. Will this do instead? Thanks for all your support, we all love you.
Warnings: May contain a little bad language further along in the story.
--
The Doctor panted heavily as he continued to race around the central panel, giving the old machine an occasional whack with his mallet. Rose clung desperately to one of the oddly shaped columns that protruded from the floor. Digging her nails into the alien metal, she trembled as the TARDIS was flung around by the time vortex. She couldn't help but think that it had all finally gone to shit.
'What's happening?' she shouted at the Doctor, over the horrendous noise of the emergency sirens.
'It's Martha. She's released the full power of the vortex!' he yelled back. With a particularly violent shudder, the control panel began to spark and groan mournfully.
'Oh no, you don't!'
Giving the poor TARIDS another good few blows with the mallet and occasionally his fist, the Doctor eventually beat her into submission. Landing heavily on Madion, the TARDIS hummed loudly in protest to the rough treatment she had endured.
Taking a moment to pat the TARDIS by way of an apology, the Doctor raced to the door grabbing up his coat and Rose as he went. Wrenching the door open, the companions where flung backwards by the force of a particularly large power surge, causing the Doctor to hit his head on the metal grating. Shaking off the dizzying blackness that was fast descending on him, the Doctor reached out for Rose. Finding her arm he pulled her towards him and covered her body with his, shielding her from the flying debris. Through the noise, sand and the chaos the Doctor looked down at Rose, watching her cough as she breathed in the dust.
Placing his face close to her ear, he spoke to her. 'You okay?'
He heard a muffled 'Uhuh' and he breathed a sigh. He drew away from her and helped her to stand. They both staggered as another blast hit them, raising their arms in front of their eyes to ward off the flying sand. They could just make out the outline of a tower swaying in the distance.
'MAKE FOR THE TOWER!' The Doctor yelled to Rose over the deafening din of the howling wind.
His eyes where still fixed on the tower in the horizon, when Rose slipped her hand into his and squeezed it. Taking their joined hands and pressing a kiss to her delicate skin, he suddenly realised that he could be leading her into her death for the hundredth time since he'd met her. Did she want to be here as much as he needed her to be? He turned to meet her eyes and caught her smile as it graced her face briefly. He knew the answer to his question. Beaming down at her with his big here-comes-trouble grin, he clasped her hand tighter in his and pulled them both into the eye of the storm.
--
The Doctor and Rose battled their way up to the tower's door. They could hear the old building creak and moan. The roof tiles cracked as they where jarred away from their fastenings was like a gun shot; the noise was audible even over the racket of the storm. The pair hurled themselves into the door as a large group of tiles came crashing down around them. The ground shook slightly as the storm stepped up its attack. Bounding up to the door, they tired to pull it open with little success. After giving the keyhole a good dose of sonic frequency waves, it opened quite happily. The Doctor tugged on the handle and pulled himself and Rose inside.
The wind whistled through the gaps in the brickwork, the odd grains of sand forcing their way through to swirl around on the floor. The pair stood for a moment listening to the sound of the wind raging outside like some wild beast desperate to get inside. Rose pushed the hair away from her face and listened as the Doctor muttered something about the vortex and weather frequencies.
They looked towards the stairs. Over the lashing wind, they could just about hear the desperate screams of Martha Jones. The Doctor turned to Rose, his face anguished.
'I have to go to her. Rose, I need you to stay here and use the screwdriver to call the TARDIS here; you remember how to do that, right?' Rose nodded dumbfounded. He was leaving? 'I'm coming back okay. Try not to get into too much trouble.'
Rose took the screwdriver from him as he gave her a strained smile. She watched him run for the stairs before gazing down at the screwdriver in her hand. What if she never saw him again?
Before she could quite register what was happening, she felt arms around her waist and his lips against hers in a desperate embrace. As they pulled apart, Rose caught a glimpse of his gorgeous face before he bounded up the stairs. Clearing her throat loudly, Rose pulled herself together and began to set the screwdriver to the right settings.
--
Martha smiled through the pain as the familiar feel of the TARDIS pushed into her mind. She was vaguely aware of the door behind her bursting open, all around her chaos erupted as The Outsiders scattered, muffled yells and pleas reached her ears. Suddenly, through her many tears she noticed a pair of blue legs appearing in front of her. Lord, what was going on?
Choking back sobs of pain and relief Martha felt her heart soar as the Doctor bent on his knees to face her, his face grave and pained.
'Oh Martha Jones, what have they done to you?' Unable to speak her mouth gapped open as she begged him with her eyes to end her suffering. The look of pity in his face was still visible even to her with her eyes so red and swollen. God I must look a sight, she thought fleetingly.
'Martha, this is probably going to hurt. I can't help that. Can you be brave for me?' He was talking to her like a child, soothing her, calming her. Unable to answer his question, she just kept her eyes on his. The Doctor raised his hands.
'I'm so sorry.' He touched his fingertips to her head and closed his eyes. Martha felt something like a knife puncturing her head and constricting her brain. Desperately, she tried to hold the pain inside herself, but as the bind around her mind constricted further still, she couldn't bare it any longer and for the second time that night began to cry out.
The Doctor continued to work on her mind until she finally passed out. He watched as the storm calmed and the tower ceased to creak and groan. Slipping his arms around Martha's limp form, he picked her up and carried her to the only exit. He made his way out of the door, happening to glance up, and noticed the large split in the night sky.
'Oh. That's not good.' He muttered to himself before he made his way down the stairs to Rose and hopefully the TARDIS.
--
Rose sat on the last step of the stairs fiddling with the screwdriver, fusing together bits of sand and resonating pieces of concrete. The TARDIS stood proudly, even though it was a little weather-beaten in the centre lobby of sorts. Sighing, Rose gazed at the old machine thinking over all the memories that it held. What if he never came back to help her make new memories for the TARDIS to hold? Well at least you know how to fly the TARDIS. It could be worse, she told herself. A good ten minutes had passed since the storm quietened down. Rose however sill felt uneasy, thinking about the calm before the storm, the second one. Something wasn't right, but she couldn't quite figure out what.
Before she had any time to ponder it further, she heard the Doctor cursing loudly as he tripped over a large piece of brick. She stood and turned to watch him kick it angrily out of his way. It took her a few seconds to notice the limp bundle in his arms. Brave Martha Jones - was she dead?
Racing up the few steps between them, she let her eyes take in the beaten and forlorn form that was Martha. Without warning, her eyes suddenly filled with tears. Martha was so young, she hadn't noticed before. God, if she had only been able to hold on, if only she had been able to fight her sickness herself, Martha would never have given her life. Just as Rose was beginning to believe her despairing ramblings, she heard the Doctor call her name.
'Helloooo?! Madion to Rose! You're blocking the stairs!' He caught sight of the tears in her eyes; he quietened and nudged her ankle gently with his foot.
'C'mon, let's go.' Suddenly snapping back into action, Rose bounded down the last five steps and up to the TARDIS door. Whipping out her key and stuffing it in the lock, she turned the key with shaking hands and shoved the door open with her foot.
'Oi! That's my 900 year old space ship you're kicking there!' The Doctor moaned indignantly, deciding to let it slide this once.
Rose quickly put the TARDIS into basic flight as the Doctor laid Martha on a med table that was fused to the floor. Rose once again thought how damn lucky they were to have a telepathic ship. She watched as the Doctor gently covered Martha in a thin blanket and strapped her to the bed. He was so tender, so careful; she knew better than anyone else that he was already blaming himself. It was in his nature to blame himself.
--
Soon they where spinning peacefully through the vortex, the TARDIS humming gently, glad to finally have some peace restored to her. Rose watched over the Doctor's shoulder as he ran the screwdriver over Martha's forehead.
'How is she?' Rose asked in a small voice, the guilty feelings she had experienced back at Madion still overwhelming her.
'Stable - for now.' His eyes never left his work, the pure concentration almost flowing off his hunched over form.
'How long will she be out for?' The Doctor straightened up and moved slightly to the right to glance at a contraption that looked uncannily like a heart monitor, but the Doctor had clearly explained that it measured brain waves.
'I don't know. Could be hours, could be weeks. Thing is, she's still got the vortex in her head. I can't get it out. The TARDIS has tried, she can't get it out. If I don't do something...' The Doctor petered out, the end of his sentence hanging unspoken in the air. Rose gazed after her lover as he paced around the control room angrily.
'Well, you kissed me to save me on the game station. Couldn't...couldn't you do the same to Martha?' The thought of her Doctor kissing another woman tickled the jealous monster that lay in the pit of her stomach. She was so mortified when he'd told her he'd kissed her on the games station - it was everything she'd ever dreamed of and she couldn't remember a damn thing. Typical.
The Doctor looked up at her for a moment before resuming his pacing.
'Skin on skin contact won't be enough this time. It's metastasised inside her head, taking over her mind and her body at an accelerated rate. You only had the vortex in your head for a few hours max. Martha's been playing host for going on week now.' A deep feeling of helplessness fell over Rose; there had to be something they could do for Martha.
'So what are we going to do now?' Rose asked in a small voice.
'I don't know.' The Doctor stopped his pacing and leaned heavily against the console, head bowed, eyes forced shut. In the silence his ragged, deep breathing, echoed off the empty walls. Rose jumped as he lost control and punched the console hard.
'SHE'S DYING AND THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO! I'M JUST SITTING HERE AND...AND...' Rose watched as the Doctor crumpled under her gaze, overtaken by despair and fear for his friend. She'd never witnessed anything quite like this, the TARDIS shook with her master as he feel on his knees and forced the palms of his hands into his eyes.
Unable to hold back the urge to comfort him anymore, Rose slowly approached the Doctor's crumpled form. Kneeling down behind him, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed the top of his head, whispering nonsense words into his ear as he cried. Laying her head in the crook of his neck, Rose rocked the Time Lord gently as she felt his hearts slow from their rapid beating and his breathing evened out.
Turning in his lover's arms, the Doctor leaned up and brushed his lips with hers.
'Thank you.' Before Rose could even think up a reply, he had already pulled out of her arms and was offering her his hand. The moment, as always, was lost.
--
2 DAYS LATER
Still no change had occurred in Martha Jones. For two days and nights she had laid motionless in the TARDIS' control room as the Doctor and Rose kept a vigil over her bed. It was almost as if she was suspended in time, never changing, never moving in a fixed point of chaos.
The Doctor had let the TARDIS 'sleep' for a few days while Martha recovered. They couldn't risk moving her, her body may not be able to take it. No distress signals where heard, no comforting bleeping of the alien technology, just unending silence.
Rose had seen nothing but the control room for the past six hours, fresh out of energy and enthusiasm she committed herself to thought and let her mind wander. The Doctor entered from the side door that led onto the little kitchen with two mugs of coffee and smiled tiredly at his girl gazing into space. Sitting down next to her and setting the mugs on the floor he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.
'Penny for your thoughts?' He asked her when she turned to face him. Rose raised an eyebrow.
'They're worth way more than that. You wouldn't get much for your money, anyway.' Bending over, the Doctor produced the mugs of coffee from the floor and handed one to Rose. Turning her back on him, she settled against his chest and his arm naturally went around her shoulders. Both sat sipping their drinks.
'Doctor, when you where upstairs with Martha where their any... you know...aliens with her?'
'Well she didn't get there by herself, did she?' The Doctor answered sarcastically.
'Where did they go then? I mean usually when we foil an evil plot the aliens in question threaten death, rampage and kidnap one of us excreta, excreta. Did I miss it this time?'
The Doctor tightened his hold on Rose ever so slightly, pulling her a fraction closer to him. He swallowed hard.
'You didn't miss anything. I dealt with them.'
Rose was tempted to turn around and look into his face, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. For the first time since she'd met him, she was afraid of him.
'I didn't kill them.'
Breathing a silent sigh of relief Rose felt herself relax back into the warmth of his chest. 'What did you do with them then?'
'I used the screwdriver to trap them all inside the attic of the tower; they'll never be able to escape. They'll be imprisoned there for the rest of time.' Rose frowned, it almost seemed worse than death.
'Isn't that a bit harsh? I mean-' The Doctor cut her sentence short.
'Look what they did to Martha. Do you think they should be allowed to do that to someone else?' The cold formality in his voice was something that Rose had never heard from him before, a detachment that wasn't like him. A deep silence fell over the pair as they preoccupied themselves with their drinks. Rose cleared her throat, breaking the silence and spoke.
'You know when you were saying goodbye to me, when I ended up on the parallel world?' A feeling of apprehension filled the Doctor; he tried desperately to beat it down as he lowered the coffee mug from his face and made a noise between a grunt and a hum.
'What where you going to say?' Suddenly, the world around the Doctor constricted rapidly. God, what was he supposed to say to her? The first time had been easy. If he had made an ass of himself, he would never see her again. His grief had overshadowed the deep embarrassment he felt whenever he showed his feelings. Looking down at his girl, he could smell her hair; he could see her hands and feel her warmth against him. Even with her back to him, he could guess the look of longing on her face as she dreamed of some romantic answer that would sweep her off her feet - every girls' fantasy.
Suddenly he realised his mouth was hanging open, waiting to be filled with words. Before he knew it his mouth had decided it had had enough of waiting and spoke all by itself.
'I was going to say, I love you.' The Doctor sat stunned at the words he had just spoken; he didn't even remember thinking that. He felt Rose nod her head against his chest as she rested a hand on his arm.
'I thought so,' she said quietly. The Doctor bent his head and kissed the top of hers before resting his forehead on the same spot. Maybe there was something in this soul bearing thing.
--
Both the Doctor and Rose where jarred from a pleasant sleep as the TARDIS began to jerk uncontrollably around them. Running across the quaking floor, the Doctor reached Martha and tightened the straps around her body, narrowly avoiding a falling piece of metal that had become dislodged from the ceiling.
Meanwhile, Rose staggered to her feet only to clamp her hands over her ears. The TARDIS overrode the blocks on her alarms system and every bell in the place went off at once. Still with her hands clamped over her ears, Rose tripped and staggered her way over to the control panel, where the Doctor offered her a hand to steady herself.
'WHAT'S GOING ON?!' Rose yelled over the deafening noise that vibrated off the TARDIS' walls. Quickly slapping his hand down on a muffler button to his right, the Doctor scanned the screen in front of him as Rose lowered her hands and rubbed her tender ears. The Doctor's face clouded and a serious frown settled over his features.
'The shockwaves from the vortex has just reached Earth. It should have just passed right over; the waves should have been too weak to do any damage...' Tapping the screen he brought up another page of Gallifreyan statistics. His frown deepened as he read on.
'I left the rip open, the one I came through to get you. You were so sick, I didn't think… it didn't matter...' Turning to Rose, anguished, he gripped her shoulders.
'It's like the battle at Canary Warf all over again. The worlds are fragmenting, sucking each other in. Rose, I... I don't know if I can save it this time, the bridge suffered so much trauma last time, I don't think it could take it.'
Dropping his hands from her shoulders, he looked into Rose's eyes as the realisation hit her that everyone – including her Mum, Dad, Mickey – might soon be dead. The Doctor clumsily gathered a terrified Rose to his chest as another vibration rocked the ship. Reaching behind Rose, he set the coordinates to Earth. This could really be it this time, the untimely end of the planet Earth – and it was entirely his fault.
--
Okay so here is chapter 7 up, it's a bit longer this time around. Is there something I didn't explain here? I get the feeling I'm missing something out. Please review! I hope you enjoyed the chapter.