The phone rang and a loud crash with lots of frustrated sounding words that she didn't understand drew Amy from her morning tea in the kitchen to the console room of the Tardis.
The phone was still ringing, and the Doctor was just pulling himself out from underneath the console, rubbing his head bringing a playful grin to her features, "You alright?" she questioned, bounding up to the controls, as he nodded.
"Yeah, yeah, grab that, would you?"
Amy already had the phone in her hand and simply lifted it to her ear, cutting off the annoying ringing sound as the Doctor climbed to his feet, and began checking his repairs with the sonic screwdriver.
"Hello?"
"Uh... hi, I'm looking for the Doctor?" came the voice down the phone and Amy leant against the console, glancing at the man in question.
"He's doing... stuff... Can I take a message?" Amy asked, watching the Doctor shake the screwdriver a few times before trying the scan again.
She could hear the woman on the other end of the phone let out a sound of frustration.
"Tell him it's Martha, Martha Jones... and then tell him to get his skinny alien arse back to Earth because I've just found Rose Tyler" she growled.
Amy blinked a moment and lowered the phone to her shoulder while she waited for the Doctor to glance up. It took a moment of silence, but when his eyes met her confused ones Amy relayed the message.
"It's someone called Martha Jones, says she's found a Rose Tyler?" Amy half asked, terror clawing through her as she watched the Doctor suddenly go milk white and drop the sonic screwdriver.
"That's not possible..."
Amy offered him the phone. He just stared at it until she shook it at him, and then slowly the Doctor reached out a trembling hand, grasping the handset gingerly before pressing it to his ear.
"Martha...?"
"Doctor... You... you sound different... doesn't matter, I need your help. Can you get to Norway? There's a little B&B on the coast-"
"This... It can't be Rose..." he tried, swallowing hard against what he thought must be the knot of his bowtie pressing against his throat.
"Well it is, I've spoken to her... kind of..."
"What do you mean 'kind of'?"
"Look, just trust me... trace this call, meet me in Norway, and I'll explain everything then..." There was a beat of silence, and then she spoke again, "God, Doctor... I know you said regeneration changed every cell in your body, but this is Rose... are you just going to ignore that?" Martha asked, her shock at his seeming reluctance snapped him out of his daze, and he found himself shaking his head.
"No. Date and time?" he all but demanded, already moving around the console, tracking the call as she'd suggested and plotting the course, Amy's hands gripping the console as the Tardis moved through the vortex.
He didn't dare let his hearts hope. Besides, if Rose was back in the right universe (the original universe) then maybe his ex-doppleganger was too. Maybe they were here by mistake. Maybe she didn't want to see him. Maybe the universes were fracturing. Maybe none of it mattered and he just needed to see her one more time. Once more after that. Then again, one more stolen moment in time.
Once would never be enough.
Regenerating might change him physically, every cell in his body, but the feelings, the emotions he carried for Rose weren't physical. All regenerating had done was make the memories less bright, softer, not quite as close to the bone when the thought of losing her cut at him.
The Tardis didn't so much as stumble when she landed, barely wheezing as they materialised with a soft thump, and it was only when Amy grabbed hold of his arm as he turned to dash for the doors that he realised she'd been shouting questions at him the entire time.
"Doctor! What's going on, and who's Martha Jones?!" Amy demanded, looking confused, and a little scared. Just a touch, a dash of fear, but it stilled him and he let himself smile at her, glancing up at the corridor that lead to the rest of the Tardis, a sleepy Rory rubbing his eyes as he stumbled into the room.
"Martha Jones, she used to travel, here, with me, in the Tardis..." he saw the surprise on the redhead's features and Rory seemed confused as he came to stand beside Amy, arm resting on the girls waist, as the Doctor blundered through his explanation with a restless bounce on the balls of his feet.
"Come on, you'll get on brilliantly!" he insisted, grabbing Amy's wrist and tugging her, and by extension Rory, out of the Tardis and directly into the stiff icy gales of the North Atlantic Ocean.
"Blimey, you could have said I'd need a coat!" Amy yelped at the shock, tugging her wrist from the Doctor, and wrapping her arms around herself before snuggling into her equally shivering fiance.
"Doctor?" it was half a question, Amy was sure of it, but the woman waiting for them seemed comfortable enough in her knowledge to open her arms for a hug, and the Time Lord didn't hesitate to accept, pulling the stranger close briefly before pulling back.
"Martha-"
Amy went to drag Rory back into the Tardis for warmer clothes, leaving the the Doctor and Martha to talk, but she was surprised when the woman, ushered the Doctor back into the Tardis as well, following them inside and closing the doors firmly.
"Sorry Doctor, I don't know who might be listening".
Just like that the warm reunion turned all business and the Doctor pushed his floppy hair away from his face with a deep sigh.
"Ok... Tea, and then you tell me what's going on Martha Jones, Rose being here shouldn't be possible, she went back to the parallel world with... the other one" the Doctor explained.
"Hi, I'm Martha, he's useless at introductions this one, what's your name?" Amy blinked in surprise but smirked at the woman's assessment of the Doctor.
Rory shook her offered hand, introducing himself, and trying not to let his confusion show, "and this is-"
"I'm Amy, let me guess, when you were with him, did he talk a lot but never actually say anything?" she offered and Martha laughed. It was only then that the Doctor noticed just how tense she'd been, and it was like that momentary lapse in her control shattered the dam and Martha's laughter turned into gasps for breath as she tried to stop tears leaking down her face.
There was a long moment where the only sound was the humming of the Tardis and Martha's tearful sobs as everyone froze, but then Amy stepped forward and wrapped her in a reassuring hug, gently guiding the woman through the Tardis and into the kitchen, while the two men followed silently. Martha just rode out the emotional tidal wave to the sound of the Doctor making tea.
"There now, come on, it can't be that bad, I'm sure the Doctor can help, that's why you're here, right?" Rory suggested softly, his gentle voice full of warmth and slowly the tears calmed.
Somehow Amy had manoeuvred them both into chairs at a small table in the kitchen, and the Doctor placed a tea in front of her that Martha gratefully wrapped her hands around.
"I got... I wasn't..."
The Doctor took a seat beside Martha and gently let his hand rest on her arm, his age old eyes settled on her gently and somehow that reassured Martha that, despite his change in face, this was the Doctor and she could trust him.
"I sent us into the vortex, so there's no rush, we're in a time machine, remember?"
Martha nodded, and let her breathing slow, sipping her tea, and Amy tried not to shoot worried glances between the brunette and her raggedy man, but a few minutes later, Martha slowly started talking, her voice steady, and growing in strength, but she didn't raise her eyes to the Doctors, keeping her gaze fixed between her cooling tea and his two companions.
She was terrified of what she'd see in his eyes when he finally figured out what was going on.
"I... I wasn't going to call you... no, that's the wrong place to start..." she ran her hand through her hair in agitation and tried again.
"Okay... I don't know if you know this... but Unit has this... if we find an alien that's on earth and a threat to us we try and send it home, but if that's not possible, or if they won't co-operate, Unit have built a kind of... containment centre or holding facility? It's pitched as a place they can stay, or live, until they agree to live by the rules we've set down, or leave... Or until we can find a way to send them home, right? It's an alternative to killing them outright".
Martha needed him to understand that. She needed the Doctor to see that the centre had begun with good reasons and good intentions because when he found out what it had turned into she knew he'd want to destroy it.
"Its here, in Norway, out of the way, any accidents or escapes can be easily resolved with minimal damage for them or the humans... anyway... London got a message asking for medical assistance for one of the aliens... the patient wasn't accepting treatment, so they asked for help, and I got sent 'cause I've got a pretty good track record".
She new he'd be grinning at her, even with this new body, but Martha couldn't make herself look, running her finger along the rim of her mug to distract herself.
"It's... It's not a containment centre, it's a prison, a mad house... it was like being back in Bedlam with Shakespeare again Doctor..." she shuddered, and she felt his hand pat her gently from where it had still been resting against her arm, but now she could feel how tense his fingers were, and she took a moment to steady her breathing again.
"I was going to treat their patient, and then get together with Jack, Sarah Jane, and Mickey to fix it. It's what we all do, right? Protect the Earth, even from ourselves, no need to call you for this... but... Doctor..."
"Where's Rose fit into all this?" he asked and Martha flinched despite his soft voice.
"I don't know why she's there, she's human, right? But she's in this cell, shackled to the floor and I thought she'd gone mad at first... until I got close... and she told me she couldn't let them realise that we knew each other".
She finally managed to drag her eyes from Amy's shocked features and Rory's pained expression to the Doctor's stone still mask.
"We have to get her out, all of them really, but..."
"What have they done, Martha," the Doctor growled, his voice quiet and deceptively soft, but she knew that tone even if it came from different lips.
The Oncoming Storm was building. and she had to force herself to swallow a few times before she could answer his demand.
"She's... I treated cuts... lacerations... wh-whip marks... Might be a broken rib, she's got extensive bruising... a swollen eye... Probably concussion but it had eased before I arrived... malnourished-" Martha's voice broke with another sob at the rising anger in his eyes, but what terrified her most was that otherwise he seemed not to react at all.
She turned her brown eyes on the Scottish girl, Amy, only to see her with silent tears streaming down her soft features as well. Rory had remained almost stoically silent, but his eyes were pained at the suffering she'd described.
"My god, Doctor how do we help them?" Amy whispered, turning her eyes on the Doctor, before jerking back at the cold fury there.
"Martha... Is there anyone here in Norway you trust?" the Doctor asked quietly, drawing his warm hand back from her arm and clenching his hands into fists to stop them shaking.
Rose. His Rose.
Battered but unbroken from the sounds of it. They wouldn't get a chance to try again, he promised silently.
Martha shook her head, "No... I travelled alone, and I didn't want to make too many calls. I was pretty angry when I left and I don't know if they're watching me. It's a tunnel though Doctor, you go in and it just spirals down and down and down, with cells to the left and right, but no where to avoid guards or hide. We'd be seen the moment we walked in, and Rose is right at the bottom. The security to get in; I've never seen anything like it".
"Oh the Sonic will deal with that, you humans haven't invented deadlock seals yet" he dismissed, and Martha forced herself to study him carefully.
"It's a tactical nightmare for anyone tying to get in or out-"
"We'll manage"
"If she's hurt, how're we going to get her out?" Rory asked softly, his voice gentle but the Doctor went pale and fell silent as though the man had shouted his query.
No one answered Rory's question and a hushed quiet descended over the Tardis kitchen. The soft background hum of the timeship seemed carefully soothing as the four travellers each finished their tea in silence and only the Time Lord at the table could say how much time had passed before someone spoke.
"Officially, you still work for Unit, Doctor... It's not subtle, but maybe you could pull rank on the whole branch?" Martha suggested.
"But... if they're like really interested in aliens, wouldn't that be like having a massive bulls eye over your head?" Amy asked, continuing a moment later at the Doctor's apparent lack of concern, "and wouldn't your interest in Rose make them even more interested?"
The Doctor's whole frame tensed before he slumped in the chair and sighed a tired sounding, "yeah..."
"So, can we hide that this about about Rose?" Rory asked, "Shut down the whole branch, you said there were loads of aliens there..."
"Shut down, or reform. The idea was good in theory, just not in application," Martha agreed, her eyes narrowing in though and Amy hummed her agreement.
"Can't have them know he's the Doctor though, they'd probably still want to lock him up".
None of his companions noticed the small smile on the Doctor's features that gradually grew in size as the three humans worked together to rescue the one soul in the multiverse that could complete him, and when he found himself beaming with suspiciously wet eyes he clapped his hands together and leap to his feet, his burst of energy knocking his chair backwards loudly, and startling his companions, both past and present, into silence.
Three sets of questioning eyes settled on him, his frame all but vibrating with energy.
"Okay! That's enough wallowing in what we can't do, let's go and see what we can do!" he announced before spinning on his heel and heading for the console room, chuckling softly as his friends scrambled to follow him.