A/N

Disclaimer: G'day mate! I don't own Doctor Who, mate!

Hey all.

Sorry about the lateness of this chapter- it took a while to get out. Add that to the fact that we recently got a kitten (called her Amazon- suits her really well); I've been a bit busy.

But it's out now, so never fear!

First, though, you want to see the answers from last chapter, right? Yeah.

'Travel Request:

Galaxy: Enabled. Milky Way, 45307-OG. (OG stands for Oldest Galaxy)

System: Enabled. Rose's, 8305905-OS. (OS stands for Oldest System)

Planet: Enabled. Earth, 03-FS. (FS stands for From Sun)

Date: Enabled. 27.12, 2007-AD. (AD stands for Anno Domini)

City: Enabled. London, 2471-GB.' (GB stands for Great Britain)

Congratulations to all those that guessed one or more correct. This chapter is dedicated to all you geniuses: My mum (who just had to be put here), laal ratty, artistgirl727, capemaynuts, x-EmilyTennant-x, Mini Librarian, Rosie-Jess, gaiafreedom21, gaia-x-goddess and Sarah.

Read on, all! More Martha this chapter, by the way.

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Martha Jones gave a happy grin as she slung her handbag over her shoulder after a highly successful day at work, walking towards her street. She had decided to get some exercise, and had stopped off the bus about four stops early. She needed more exercise; travelling with the Doctor had told her that. She'd gotten back into her job routine after minimal hassles, and she had correctly guessed a case of Thymoma in a patient complaining of nothing more than a cough. She was more than happy; Thymoma was such a rare disease, and she'd gotten it correct on a wild presumption- her supervising Doctor had told her to think of some other possible diagnoses.

Martha knew it had been a test; Doctor Bennett had told her that after the fact, but that didn't change the happy, bubbly feeling that was rising in her chest. The tumour had been benign- she'd been told that after the fact, too. The surgery to remove it was scheduled in three days time, which, again, she'd found out after the makeshift test.

Doctor Bennett had mentioned something about getting more privileges in regards to testing labs, which had made her feel like she was floating in a dream. She was one step closer to becoming a Doctor. One step closer to her life-long goal.

She was thinking less and less of the Doctor each day, which was a huge improvement. It had been two weeks since she'd reunited Rose and the Doctor. She still didn't regret it; Rose wanted to continue to travel with the Doctor. Meanwhile, Martha had been the one to want to leave. She didn't, and never would, regret her decision.

And everything had seemed better once she'd returned from journeying with the Doctor; her mother and father were back together- slightly awkward because of the years not talking to each other, but well on the road back. Her entire family had changed, and there was a definite lack of hostility and tension in the air where once there was plenty. Martha hadn't yet gotten an apartment, but she found it didn't bother her much.

Because her family was moving on, and for once, they were moving on as a family. And Martha, despite feeling it wouldn't last, enjoyed it immensely. She started humming her favourite song as she continued to walk down the street near her own.

An unearthly but hauntingly beautiful grating sound made her pause. She knew that sound; she could recognise it from anywhere. But what was the Doctor doing here?

The TARDIS rematerialised about twenty meters away from where she was standing, and she waited for the Doctor or Rose to open the door. After no-one did open it, she approached the time machine slowly, withdrawing the TARDIS key she still had.

She turned it over in her hands, giving the Doctor a chance to open the door, wondering why he hadn't already done so. When the door still remained closed, Martha quickly unlocked the door, and, with a deep breath, opened the door.

She surveyed the situation in front of her with shock. The Doctor was lying in a huddle on the right of the TARDIS, his back to Martha, and Rose was leaning against the controls, eyes closed tightly, face scrunched up in pain, with dots of red on her clothes that Martha could tell was blood.

Martha rushed forward in concern. "Rose?"

Rose opened her lids and surveyed Martha with surprised eyes, though Martha noticed they were glazed. "Martha?"

"What happened?" Martha inspected Rose's white-knuckled grip on the TARDIS' console with worry.

"Uh…" Rose swallowed. She seemed to pause as something came to her. "Martha?"

"Yeah," Martha confirmed, worry building.

Rose sighed in relief. "Great. Great. You're here. Really, really good."

"Rose," Martha said slowly, "Are you okay?"

Rose stopped leaning against the console and swayed for a second before regaining her balance. She ran over to the sprawled shape of the Doctor, and Martha had to jump backwards in order to not get trampled. "Rose?" Martha repeated.

Rose turned the Doctor onto his back, and Martha gave a gasp of horror. "Doctor!" Martha said in alarm as she fell to her knees beside the collapsed Time Lord. The Doctor's face was smudged and blackened, as if he'd been halfway through a fire and back again. His clothes… Martha couldn't help the wide-eyed horror as she saw his familiar blue suit, dampened with blood. She touched the suit, hand immediately coming away with red, sticky blood. "God…" she whispered. Pulse. She put her fingers to his wrist, feeling only one heart beating. And beating slowly- well, slower than the normal one hundred and seventy beats per minute.

To Martha's shock, Rose put her arm underneath the Doctor's shoulders and half-hauled him upright, holding him awkwardly and trying to stay on her own feet.

Martha tried to stop her; it wasn't going to help the Doctor if he was moved. "Rose… Rose, you can't move him."

Rose gave her a desperate glance. "Med-lab," was all she said.

Right. Yeah, yeah. They needed to get him to the med-lab of the TARDIS. It was the one place that Martha had first asked to see inside the TARDIS, and the one place that Martha had truly felt speechless at. It couldn't bring a person back to life; that was impossible. But the sheer capacity of it- the abilities of the place- had astounded her. Martha took some of the Doctor's weight off Rose's shoulders by slinging one of the Doctor's arms over her own shoulders. "C'mon," Martha encouraged Rose, and together they both supported the Doctor as they moved step by step towards the lab.

"Yeah, I know," Rose whispered.

Martha frowned, but continued walking. "Rose?"

Rose ignored her. "What about you? Can you do anything?"

"I am doing something," Martha replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Are you okay, Rose?" Martha asked again. Confusion. Glazed eyes. Concussion probably. How very helpful.

Rose glanced at Martha. "Sorry, I wasn't talking to you," she told Martha.

"Who were you talking to?" Martha inquired. She figured that if Rose and herself kept walking, it didn't matter if Martha exploited the hallucination.

"The TARDIS," Rose said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Martha stumbled and almost fell. If anything, that answer wasn't what she had been expecting. She regained her balance and sped up slightly. "The TARDIS?"

Rose swayed suddenly, and leant against the corridor of the TARDIS while closing her eyes. Martha stopped alongside her, knowing for the moment that there was nothing she could do to help Rose until she'd helped the Doctor.

Rose gave her head a shake and started moving forward again. That was a mistake. Rose's legs gave out under her and she fell to the ground, unintentionally dragging the Doctor and Martha with her.

"Rose?" Martha called, as Rose grasped at her head in pain. "Rose?" Concern for the two travellers engulfed Martha like a fog. What had happened to them, to leave them as injured as they were? In all the adventures Martha had with the Doctor, she'd come to believe that they'd always get out unscathed. As Martha gently lowered the Doctor's immobile form to the ground and scrambled to Rose, Martha realised she had been wrong.

"Pain in the head?" Martha asked Rose. Rose glanced up at her with what seemed to be an incredible effort. Martha held up two fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Rose stared for a second. "D'you reckon you could do me a favour and stop moving them around?" Rose sighed. "I know I've got a concussion."

"How'd you hit your head?" Martha asked Rose. If Rose did indeed have a concussion, head trauma was the likely cause. And where there was head trauma, there usually was a mark.

Rose held a shaky hand to the back of her head, touching a spot with tender fingers. Martha placed her own fingers gently on the back of Rose's head, feeling immediately the large inflammation partially hidden by blonde hair. "That's a nasty one," Martha told Rose. "Are you sure you can help-"

Martha was cut off as a flash of light, so bright that she had to cover her eyes, surrounded the corridor of the TARDIS in its strange glow. When the ethereal light faded, Martha opened her eyes a squint, and looked in surprise at Rose. "What was that?"

Rose looked back, equally shocked, before whispering, "Oh… no…" Rose rushed to the Doctor, and Martha followed suit, slightly confused.

"Rose," Martha questioned. "What was that?"

Martha was even more confused when Rose reeled back in surprise when she saw the Doctor's face.

"What?" Rose exclaimed. "What?"

"What?" Martha asked her. "What was that?"

"H-his face," Rose replied.

Martha frowned. "Nothing's wrong with it," Martha stated. "It's exactly the same."

"That's the point," Rose muttered. "If he's… but that's not…"

"What?" Martha repeated again stupidly.

"I don't know." Rose tore open the bloodstained suit in an animalistic fashion, and Martha had no idea what to think. When she saw the Doctor's chest with a tiny, tiny cut on it, her eyebrows rose. For a second, she wondered if the Doctor's blood clotted- had the cut really been only that? Only a small laceration? The amount of blood that covered the Doctor didn't really seem like it came from a cut that small. Maybe it wasn't the Doctor's blood. But as she watched, the small cut faded into a dark pink scar, which lightened and faded into nothing except unblemished skin.

"What?" it was Martha's turn to exclaim. She touched the area where the wound had been- nothing was there. A smooth surface, no protrusions or dents in the skin or anything like that. And that had to be impossible, right? "How is this possible?" she gave voice to the thoughts in her head.

"I don't know…" Rose muttered, inspecting the Doctor's face.

"I mean," Martha was still blurting out her thoughts. "How could he heal so fast? I know he's a Time Lord, but…"

"Oh, that," Rose dismissed. "That's not surprising."

Martha frowned again.

"Regeneration," Rose clarified. She paused. "Did he tell you about regeneration?"

"Oh," Martha's eyes widened. "Yeah, yeah, he did." She'd just completely forgotten about it. The Doctor had told her about it while on the S.S. Pentallian, but she hadn't fully understood until he'd explained it later. She'd been absolutely fascinated. And now, she'd forgotten. How stupid of her. She gave herself a shake. Maybe she'd been focused on the human aspect of medical care a bit more than she'd originally thought, because she had failed to remember the Doctor's unique circumstances. This also, in a strange way, comforted her, because it once again showed that she wasn't fully obsessed with the Doctor anymore.

"But his face," Rose put one hand on the Doctor's cheek. "His face… is the same… why is it the same?"

Martha realised that she'd forgotten about the cell replacement as well- the changing of appearances, like the Master had changed his appearance. She reached towards the Doctor's neck, checking for a pulse. Double heartbeat… the fast pulse that was normal for a Time Lord… he was fine. This made no sense, considering that the Doctor was supposed to have changed his face. "Maybe…" Martha tried. "Maybe the Doctor… I don't know, maybe he had a different way to heal himself."

Rose started to shake her head, but appeared to think better of it and stop. "No," Rose denied. "He… if that was possible… he would've done that last time." Then Rose paused. "But the Doctor and the Master were talking about some kind of transfer… maybe this was what was supposed to happen…"

"Transfer?" Martha repeated. "Master?"

"Long story," Rose sighed, and put a hand up to massage her temples. "We'll find out later."

"C'mon," Martha told Rose. "Med-lab, yeah? Let's get that concussion fixed." The Doctor was fine, for the time being. So, now, the priority was Rose. And then Martha would ask about the Master and the transfer and anything else related to either of them.

But Rose stubbornly shook her head, forehead tightening in pain at the movement. "No. The Doctor first."

"The Doctor's just sleeping," Martha attempted to convince her. And he was only sleeping, too. His brows were no longer creased in pain, and all his features had softened in the manner that announced siesta to the world. And Martha had checked all his vitals, like any competent doctor would do.

"The Doctor first," Rose repeated, and removed her hands from her head in a display of decisiveness. "He got stabbed."

Martha nodded, knowing there was nothing she could say to Rose to deter her. "Right then," Martha told Rose, "Can you help me with him?"

Together, slowly and carefully, they hoisted the Doctor up, and, each with an arm underneath the Doctor's shoulders, they started the time-consuming process of carrying him to the medical bay. Mindful of Rose's head damage, Martha made sure to take more of the Doctor's weight, which, if Rose noticed, she didn't comment on.

The TARDIS made a weird chirrup-hum sound, and Rose, who seemed to have the Doctor's ability to translate it into English, gave a thankful grin. Rose turned her head to Martha. "The med-lab's this way," Rose pointed to a corridor that Martha hadn't seen before, to their left.

"No… it isn't," Martha replied, confused. "It's up ahead."

Rose shook her head ever so slightly. "The TARDIS moved it closer."

"Moved it?!" Martha exclaimed sceptically.

"Yeah."

Martha got the distinct impression that she was making herself out to be an idiot. If the TARDIS could move the rooms around- which, in all likelihood, was a definite possibility, Martha should have known, right? So why didn't she know? Maybe it didn't happen often. Maybe it took too much power. "Right," said Martha, reaching a decision. "Left it is."

Rose led the way down the half-lit corridor and through another door that Martha easily recognised as the med-lab's, what with the strange coral pillars incorporated into the entranceway. So the TARDIS was capable of rearranging the rooms.

Martha and Rose gently laid the prone Doctor on the stretcher, and Martha leant back with a sigh, stretching her muscles. Rose delicately lifted the Doctor's head, fluffing up the pillow underneath, before planting a soft kiss on his forehead.

Martha turned away, feeling an unwelcome surge of envy, not willing to watch. She regretted it a second later. She was the one who'd reunited the Doctor and Rose. She was the one who'd made that decision. She was the one to pay for that decision. And Rose had nothing to do with it. It had been Martha's choice and her choice alone.

Martha turned back, and to her relief, Rose had seated herself next to the Doctor's bed, and was watching him with unreadable eyes. But even with unreadable eyes, Martha could see as plainly as the sky the deep-rooted affection Rose had for the Doctor. Deeper than Martha's. And it would always be deeper than Martha's.

Martha closed her eyes, taking a long breath and releasing it in a loud sigh. She had a sudden pang of anger; Martha had been fine before the TARDIS had made a return appearance. And now here she was, conflicting emotions running through her brain like a torrential rainfall.

And then she mentally shook herself. The inhabitants of the TARDIS had been injured, hurt. There was no way they would have been able to survive on their own. Even if she counted the Doctor's regeneration-that-wasn't.

Martha had done the right thing. The sooner she could get that into her head, the better. "Right," Martha announced, rising and moving to Rose. "Let's get that concussion fixed now, yeah?"

Rose glanced once at the Doctor, but to Martha's relief, she nodded without protest. "Alright."

Martha directed Rose to sit down on the exam table, which was at the other side of the medium-sized room. Martha grabbed the head-healer-thing, as she'd so called it because she hadn't been able to catch the Doctor's name for it in the burst of talking that followed, and she carried it with her on the way.

She instructed Rose to keep still, and Martha made sure the healing device had the right settings before holding it above the lump on the back of Rose's head.

"When'd you learn this?" Rose asked her as Martha changed the settings of the device again.

"The Doctor taught me," Martha replied idly, putting the healing-thing back against Rose's head. When Rose silently gestured for her to carry on, Martha explained. "I'm a Doctor. Well, almost. And the first place I went inside the TARDIS, other than my room, was the med-lab. He taught me how to use this," Martha lifted the device, "When he'd given himself a concussion- minor, as it was- from banging his head on the console in the control room."

"He gave himself a concussion?!" Rose repeated.

"Yeah!" Martha laughed. "You know how he's always fiddling around with the TARDIS?"

"Oh, do I ever!" Rose replied, a smile breaking out. "Did he bang his head on the way out?"

"Oh, yeah, to say the least! You should've seen his face, all confused, hair everywhere!"

"I can imagine," Rose let out a laugh.

The device made a beeping sound, and Martha lifted it away, inspecting the back of Rose's head for signs of injury. The lump had gone. "No pain?"

Rose shook her head. "Nope."

"Dizziness? Feeling sick?"

"No." Rose stood up from the table with gusto. "Thanks for that."

"You're welcome," Martha fixed her gaze on the Doctor's sleeping form, blood stains and black smudges on his clothes. "What happened?"

Martha had never been a good listener. She'd always been the one to act on information, or question it. She wasn't the kind of person to listen. But even so, she found herself silent as Rose explained to her the long story- and Rose was right, it was a long story. Silent with awe, or fascination, or curiosity she didn't know. Certainly, it was more silent then Martha had been in a long time.

"… and the Master… kind of glowed," Rose paused, trying to find the words. "Like… he and the Doctor were engulfed in light. Blinding light. I had to look away, close my eyes. I opened them when the light faded, and the Master told the Doctor something about 'giving him the transfer'. The Doctor said it was a myth… a story, and-"

"Story? The name toclafane was from a children's story…" Martha interrupted.

"Tocla-what?"

"Oh," Martha waved a hand in dismissal, "That. Never mind."

Rose nodded. "Well, the Master stopped moving, and the Doctor thought he was dead, so…"

Martha tuned out as she heard that. Master, seemingly dead? It had uncanny similarities to the Master's death in this universe. Martha felt a sudden pang for the Doctor. She couldn't come close to imagining the grief and pain the Doctor must have gone through- having the last of his race die in front of him, adversary to the end. And suddenly, being thrust into a world with more Time Lords, more of his race, and more that were evil. Of course, the Doctor had stopped them destroying the world. By using the weapon's beam against it, too. How typical.

"Martha? Hello?"

Martha looked up in surprise. "Wha?"

"Are you listening?" Rose didn't seem angry, only bemused.

"Mm, yeah, sorry."

Rose took a deep breath, and began explaining the rest. How the Doctor had managed to glow the same way the Master did. How Phantom had regenerated without any of them noticing. How Phantom had the device… and how he'd had the match. How he'd set fire to himself. How the Doctor had recovered the transporter. How Rose had said her goodbyes. How they'd returned back to this universe, with use of the device. How the device had blown up. How Rose had gotten them inside the TARDIS. And finally, how Rose had flown the TARDIS to Earth.

Martha was, to put it loosely, a tad bit overwhelmed. "You flew the TARDIS?"

"I did, yeah," Rose grinned at Martha, who was oddly reminded of the Doctor's wide, manic grins.

"He taught you?"

"No, no, of course not," Rose chuckled. "The Doctor wouldn't let anyone near the TARDIS controls."

That was for certain. Martha lowered her eyebrows. "How'd you know how to fly it then? 'Cause I really don't understand any of the levers and pulleys and knobs and stuff. "

"I don't either," Rose replied. "I just… sort of… guessed."

"You guessed how to fly the TARDIS?" was Martha's incredulous retort. "You guessed how to fly a time machine?!"

Rose shrugged. "Yeah."

Oh, Martha had heard everything now. Not that she didn't believe Rose; Martha was just completely and utterly shocked. "How do you guess how to fly a time machine?"

Rose shrugged again, with a sheepish smile. "I got the TARDIS to help me."

"Oh."

And there it was again. The TARDIS had helped her. Martha didn't fully believe the TARDIS was alive, at least, not to the extent of the Doctor or, apparently, Rose. Martha just considered the TARDIS to be more like an artificial intelligence, or something like that, which, in reality, was probably quite discourteous. Martha knew that the TARDIS was alive, but the extent, she wasn't convinced.

"Well, that's the story," Rose brought Martha out of her musing. "After that, I came here. But… what's the date today?"

"Why?"

"I want to see how good I flew the TARDIS," Rose replied honestly.

"It's the tenth of January," Martha recalled.

Rose's face turned into slight disappointment. "So close…"

"How did you… I mean, what did you set the date for?"

Rose calculated. "Exactly two weeks ago, I think."

Martha raised an eyebrow. "Two weeks ago?"

"Not too bad for my first flight," Rose grinned. "I suppose it's harder than it looks."

"Maybe the TARDIS is just old."

"Probably," Rose agreed, "It's been around for as long as the Doctor, if not longer."

Martha nodded.

A noise from behind them, a muffled groan, and a call, made the two turn around.

"Rose?" was the softest of mutters from the Doctor.

Rose immediately rushed to his side. "Doctor?"

"Rose?" the mutter came again. "Don't leave, Rose."

Martha, by Rose's side, whispered, "He's still asleep."

"Rose?" this call was louder, more desperate. "Rose? Please… don't go…" The next few sentences from the Doctor were mumbled and barely distinguishable. "Rose… TARDIS… absorbed the heart… wolf… brilliant, Rose, just brilliant… the French know how to party, oh, yes… goodbye… Sopchoppy, Sopchoppy, Sopchoppy. Really got to go there… worms, Rose, worms, lots and lots of worms…" the rest was lost in a fit of restless tossing on the Doctor's behalf.

Martha stared at Rose. "The French know how to party? Worms?"

Rose's mouth tweaked upwards in the beginnings of a smile. "Hard to explain."

Martha nodded, and a pause settled over them. Rose sat herself back down at the chair on the Doctor's left side, while Martha stood at the foot of the bed. Rose held the Doctor's hand in her own, and Martha was left feeling awkward and slightly out of place. "I'll come back later," Martha declared softly to thin air, not expecting a reply.

But as she turned to leave, Rose whispered, "Martha."

Martha turned back around to face Rose.

Rose stared at Martha in pure appreciation. "Thankyou for calling the Doctor," she said honestly, eyes glittering.

Martha's lips curled up in the ghost of a smile, and she turned, heart lighter, to walk out of the room.

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Two hours later, Martha, who had been spending the time wandering around the many corridors of the TARDIS, strolled back into the med-lab to check on the Doctor and Rose.

She smiled gently at what she saw, trying to forgo the jealousy. "I guess I'll come back later," a whisper to no one in particular but thin air. This time, Martha knew she wouldn't get a response.

She walked out again, the gentle smile still her main expression.

Behind her, Rose, lying on the same bed as the Doctor, nestled closer to the sleeping Time Lord, and in return the Doctor placed one protective arm around the exhausted Rose.

And on they slept, both with small smiles on their faces.

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TBC…

A/N

Well, well. Here we are again. What did you think of the chapter? Enjoy it? Hate it? I'm actually not really satisfied with this chapter, but I'm not really sure why. Hm…

There is a part in this chapter that gives something away about what the sequel is about… any guesses as to what it was? It's subtle…

Anyway, not much to say, really. So I'll go straight to thanking people:

First, gigantic thanks to those that reviewed the previous chapter: Talia-Taylor, Lozz Sparrow, Suuki-Aldrea, laal ratty, ILUVHOUSE, JeMS7, artistgirl727, Kuro the Spork Queen, capemaynuts, Doctor-Lost, x-EmilyTennant-x, Random Nonsence, Mini Librarian, Rosie-Jess, gaiafreedom21, sparks733, Lovelessheart18, M64, gaia-x-goddess and Sarah.

Second, cheering and a huge thankyou for those who put this story on their favourites lists: Beneath the Rose, Doctor-Lost, Doctors girl, Draco167, DramaQueen1133, I'mTheMasterOfWhatever, ILUVHOUSE, Iriahm, JeMS7, Kaia-S, Kuro the Spork Queen, Lovelessheart18, Lozz Sparrow, Mara Jade Snape, Princess of the Fae, QuiteRightToo, Random Nonsence, Rose Tyler, Rosie-Jess, Sesa28, Sunny angel, Talia-Taylor, Tara-lov-Dr10, Tigerprime, VampMistress, Wanabee, artistgirl727, awesomepwincess123, captaincatch, caromac, enneisilee, gaia-x-goddess, gaiafreedom21, gryphalkon, helenluvsboo, horsemaniac, jimmybeam, rommie-rules, sparks733, tylerfan23, x-EmilyTennant-x and yegbb10.

Well, since you have the Doctor clone, it is only fair that you get a Rose Tyler clone. A Rose Tyler Clone (with an optional Bad Wolf upgrade) to all those that put me as their favourite author: ataralasse, Beneath the Rose, Doctor-Lost, Doctors girl, Draco167, I'mTheMasterOfWhatever, ILUVHOUSE, johnny-B-reading, Lovelessheart18, Lozz Sparrow, Mara Jade Snape, QuiteRightToo, Random Nonsence, rommie-rules, Rosie-Jess, Talia-Taylor, Tara-lov-Dr10, tylerfan23, VampMistress, Wanabee, windpoetry and x-EmilyTennant-x.

Thanks also to those that put this story on their story alerts lists and those that put me on their author alert lists.

Fourteen chapters down, two to go.

See ya next time! And please… review!

SnowFox3