Martha is slumped on the hospital floor weeping into her hands. She had just witnessed the death of one of her patients -- Mr. Adams was 73 years old when he breathed his last, and the finality of the circumstance devastates her. Despite Martha's efforts to prevent his cancer from spreading, the illness had advanced past her expertise and she had lost him. For months, Martha had been confident that the cancer would recede and Mr. Adams would recover, but try as she might to find new ways to curb the spread, the cancer overwhelmed his system. Martha Jones had been reminded once again of one of the toughest lessons every doctor learns: that sometimes, no matter how hard you try, your best isn't good enough.

Left with no living relative to care for him, Martha had taken it upon herself to see to his needs up to the very day of his passing, visiting him every morning before her shift began and in between her other hospital duties before she went home. His wife had died a few months before he was confined at the Royal Hope, and seeing him helpless, alone and distressed reminded her all too much of the way the Doctor had looked when she had set off to accomplish her mission of telling his story.

Professor Docherty was repairing her television set when Martha and Tom Milligan found her. Too busy to pay much attention to her visitors, the professor hurriedly explained to them that the Master was due to broadcast a message that night. It turned out that Martha Jones was its intended recipient. Focusing on the static screen with Professor Docherty and Tom Milligan on either side of her, Martha watched with a stoic expression as the Master aged her Time Lord in front of her very eyes. Emotions warred within her tiny frame; anger, fear and shock mingled and travelled through her veins, almost making her faint from the sheer intensity of her feelings. But she kept looking at the screen until the very last glimpse of the Doctor was cut abruptly and the screen turned black. Despite what she had witnessed, relief overwhelmed her, making her smile for the first time in months. Because after everything, she can only think of one thing: he's alive. On the eve of war when everything is at stake, Martha's world seemed to fall into place again. The Doctor is alive, and she is coming back to him.

Faith and hope -- she remembers how the Master scoffed at those two words while she was kneeling before him, waiting to be killed. But it was faith and hope that helped her survive the year that never was, and it is faith and hope that will push her forward in this life she has chosen to live. She might not always get it right, she may lose many battles, but she will never give up fighting. As she sits outside the room where Mr. Adams had stayed, she allows herself to grieve for the man she knew. When her tears subside, she dries her eyes and stands, squaring her shoulders. When one life ends, another begins – Martha reminds herself. She touches the nameplate on the door, whispering her goodbye to dear friends, to old lives, then walks away to begin again.