Martha looked out over Roald Dahl Plass, smiling at the children running along and laughing. She was content to soak in the rare sun shining over Cardiff, enjoy the lively scene on the Plass, when she felt someone sit next to her.
"Dr. Martha Jones how are you doing ma'am," Jack greeted as he sat down.
Her smile grew larger as he threw an arm around her shoulders.
"Just fine. And yourself, Captain," she responded in kind, leaning into him.
"More than alright now that I have such a beautiful woman in my arms."
Martha giggled as he leaned in to kiss her softly. They'd been doing this since she left the Doctor. Jack had decided Martha needed taking care of after the year she spent walking the earth under the Master's reign. He had taken to random visits just to talk to her and be a friend. She would return the favor, traveling to see him in Cardiff and listening to whatever he would share with her, whether it be ranting about his team or some memory from his long life.
Somewhere along the line, the two's relationship escalated from friends to friends with benefits. But with the two of them being who they were, it couldn't remain a purely sexual relationship. Martha wouldn't say she was in love, not after the last time she jumped headlong into it with a time traveler, but she was on her way there.
"What are you up to today? I wasn't expecting to see you, but I'm not complaining at all. We could grab some lunch, if you're up for it," she inquired.
"Actually, I can't stay. Bank robbery. People are being held hostage by a blowfish, remember them?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go do your job," she groused, pouting cutely.
Jack smiled adoringly at her before pressing his lips to her temple and running off towards an SUV where she could see two men and two women studying her with suspicious eyes.
She waved at the group politely, having never met them in person. The Asian woman and younger man, Toshiko and Ianto she supposed, had the decency to appear bashful at being caught. Gwen continued her examination shamelessly while Owen shot her a lascivious grin. Jack said something to them that caused varying levels of contrition to cross their faces before they scrambled into the car. He threw a smirk back at Martha before he hopped in after them and drove away.
Martha looked down with a slight smile and returned to her people watching. Some might find her life boring nowadays, but after the time she spent with the Doctor, she needed a little monotony, even if she still couldn't find it in herself to regret going with him.
She sat for ten more minutes before getting up and walking down to the shops. As she walked along, she passed three people standing outside a clothing store. She froze when she heard the word TARDIS. She went to a rack of sunglasses in a bid to covertly spy on the trio and was shocked to see one of the men was Jack.
He looked different, younger with less pain in his eyes. She guessed this was an earlier version of him from when he traveled with the Doctor, which confirmed the other man's identity. Martha giggled as she noticed his rather large ears. Then there was Rose Tyler.
The woman whose presence lingered over every moment Martha had shared with the Doctor. The woman who Martha was constantly compared to and found wanting. Seeing her in person was a wholly different experience compared to Martha's private musings and the few pictures the Doctor had lying around the TARDIS. Martha didn't feel it though, the hatred or jealousy towards her that she thought she would. Maybe because she didn't feel the same way about the Doctor that she once did. She loved him, maybe always would, but she wasn't in love with him. The feelings she had had for him weren't as deep compared to her feelings for Jack at any rate.
She wondered how different this Jack was from hers. Just then, younger Jack turned and spotted her. He smiled, wide and flirtatious, before winking at her.
So, he wasn't so different then.
The Doctor said something, and Jack's grin fell as well did his head. Rose said something to the Doctor, who rolled his eyes in response. The blonde beamed at Jack and he returned the expression before grabbing her hand and letting her drag him off, the Doctor following them at a more sedate pace.
Martha watched them go with a wistful smile, thinking fondly of her days with the Doctor. It wasn't all bad, despite how awful the end was. She went to the moon, met Shakespeare, traveled to various far-flung corners of the universe, met all kinds of unique beings she never thought existed, and made friends across time and space. There were low moments certainly, but they didn't erase the highs. Martha smiled to herself once before continuing on her way to do her shopping.
A little while later, she had a bag full of groceries and was bouncing down the street absentmindedly. She thought of all she had to do. She should call her family soon. They liked to check in with one another after all that had happened. She wanted to see Jack after he finished work as well. Tish might wish to speak to him at any rate. She was unceremoniously pulled from her thoughts when she was yanked into an alleyway. She gave a yelp of surprise as the man put a hand over her mouth, stifling her scream. She began struggling against him but stopped when she recognized the voice.
"It's just me."
"Jack, what is wrong with you? You nearly gave me a heart attack," she scolded, turning and smacking his chest.
"Sorry, I just—"
"What? Just thought it'd be a good idea to yank me into an alleyway where I thought you were a rapist or murderer or something? You know my mind goes to those things, and you know why. What'd you pull me in here for?"
"I missed you."
"What do you mean? I just saw you not 30 minutes ago."
Martha looked up at him and startled a little at what she saw. His eyes were filled with centuries' worth more pain and despair than when she last saw him. As he noticed the realization flood her eyes, his own began to water.
"You're not supposed to be doing this. You crossed your timeline once today already, but twice now, in the same hour…" she chastised softly, letting the statement trail off.
"I know, I know. I just… I had to see you again."
"How long?"
"182 years," he replied with disbelief and sorrow dripping from his voice.
"182 years? 182 years?! And you're still holding on to me? You let me go right now," she demanded sternly.
He shook his head, looking down.
"I mean it. Do not carry me around with you wherever you go, letting me add to your burden."
A pained sob ripped from him. She wrapped her arms around him tightly. He reciprocated, using it like a lifeline.
"I miss you so much," he relayed tearfully.
"I know."
"I love you."
Martha held him tighter. Without her bidding them, the words flew from her mouth.
"I love you too, but you can't hold me like a chip on your shoulder. Look at me."
He removed his head from her shoulder, and she wiped tears from his face.
"I love you, which is why I want you- no, I need you to move on. If I'm dead, then I'm dead. There's nothing you can do, so don't you dare try and change the future. What we had, what we have and what we will have, it's good, but all things have got to end. Even you'll die one day, and when it happens, I'll be right there with you. I promise you. Jack…"
She leaned up and pressed her lips to his softly. The kiss was sweet, but pungent with his longing, grief and passion. The kiss quickly caught on fire, his tongue begging her for access which she granted. They stood in the alleyway, their tongues doing a dangerous, paradoxical tango until it finally cooled off. Martha grabbed his hand and her bag from the floor.
"Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"For a walk. Your present self is dealing with some blowfish alien. I reckon your past self's gone back to the TARDIS with Rose and the Doctor, so fancy a walk?"
"Of course, Martha Jones."
"Nearly two centuries and you still remember my name," she commented with an astonished smile.
"I promised you I never would forget it. I'm trying my best, and the Doctor helps."
The way he said it betrayed some unknown struggle that she wanted to ask about, but decided against it.
Hours later, after she shared a day full of painful emotions and melancholy kisses with future Jack, she ran to the Roald Dahl Plass with tears still heavy in her eyes. When she got there, she could see Jack loitering with his team. The sun was setting and he was standing there, smiling with amusement. He looked beautiful, she thought it the moment he first smiled at her. It was even truer now. He was such a stark contrast to the broken man she had spent the day trying to hold together. She could not help but be drawn to him like he possessed some magnetic force of attraction. She ran to him and kissed him fully and passionately on the lips, disregarding anyone else in their presence.
"Hello to you too," Jack commented jokingly, but the smile left his face when he noticed her tears.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
"Nothing. Nothing, it's just I, um, I love you, okay? I really, really do."
He looked stricken for only a moment before he responded.
"I love you too," he replied, beaming down at her.
He stared at her a moment more before pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
"Come meet my team," he said.
She was grateful he didn't push it. She had no idea what she would've said.
DWDWDWDW
It would be two years before Martha mentioned anything about her encounters on that day.
After Tosh and Owen's deaths, after Gray was stopped, after Jack had showered and cried in her arms and told her all about the years he spent buried alive, she finally decided to tell him what happened. She was sure to make sure he understood that she couldn't live forever. Sooner or later, sooner being more likely, he would lose her just like he had so many others. She gave him the option to leave before he was faced with the prospect, but he would hear nothing of it.
She was right, in the end. Jack did lose her before he wanted to, but their time together was not brief.
149 years.
Martha was infected with Doctor's regenerative energy during an impromptu trip with him and Donna. The Doctor managed to save her, but as a result, she healed almost instantaneously and didn't grow old normally anymore. However, even the regenerative energy couldn't help her when, while saving others, she and their youngest son were atomized.
They had 149 years, 8 children, 23 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren between them when Martha died. He couldn't cope with losing both his wife and son so unceremoniously. There was no one for him to blame it on. Martha and Orion died while saving the lives of others, something they had always dedicated themselves to doing. Jack wished to rage at them for it, blame the universe or God or himself, but it was all of no use. He took Orion's orphaned daughter and left Earth not long after, hoping to outrun his sorrows, and tried not to look back.
DWDWDWDW
Martha Jones was on the 15th New Earth in the 15th New York watching the Face of Boe die. In her head, she heard his voice speaking wistfully. She found herself in a white room with a man. He wore a light blue shirt with red suspenders and gray trousers. He sauntered up to her, a gait to his walk that sent a shiver through for a reason she couldn't name.
"Martha Jones, voice of a nightingale, the woman who walked the earth, everyone's savior, my personal angel. You kept your promise. You're here."
She didn't know him, yet she did and that scared her. If her assumption was correct, this man was the Face of Boe, and he was about to die after keeping a planet alive for the past 200 years. The least she could do was indulge him.
"I'm here."
"Yes, you are."
She startled a little when he kissed her chastely but she didn't fight him. He pulled away before she could react.
"I never stopped loving you, but I did move on like you wanted. I had partners, husbands and wives, kids. It was good. I've lived a full life."
"Good."
She didn't know what else to say. He was talking about moving on from her and the families he had over the millions of years he'd lived. Martha must've resembled a wife he had once. But he said her name specifically. Who exactly was he? And who was she to him?
"I love you," he admitted, shocking her.
Looking into his eyes, she couldn't help but believe him. There was so much floating around his irises. It was what Martha couldn't seem to attain from any man, that look on his face. She could see that he wanted her to reciprocate. Before she knew it, her lips were moving.
"I love you too, but who are you? I don't even know you, so how can I love you? I'd remember meeting you."
He smiled softly.
"You'll find out soon enough."
He leaned in and kissed her one more time before things faded to black. She snapped out of her daze, looking around the room at the sorrowful faces. She turned back to the large creature before her. He was still, his eyes glassy and sightless. She'd seen enough cadavers to realize what had happened to him. The Face of Boe was dead and for some reason, that stirred in her core a world of grief. Tears ran down her cheeks. Whoever he was, he loved her. He looked at her with adoration and unadulterated love the way she wished the Doctor would but probably could never, then she cried more because the man might not be real, but she hoped he was.
DWDWDWDW
The Doctor noticed Martha had been more edgy and emotional since old Boe died.
She could spend hours sitting in a corner, staring at a wall in deep thought. Her smiles were sometimes forced and cajoled out of her. He wondered if he made a mistake taking her on as a companion, if she wasn't as strong as he first thought.
A couple weeks later, they ran into Captain Jack Harkness. Martha appeared to be a new woman, much closer to who he had met on the moon. She smiled easily and hung onto every word the Captain said.
The Doctor was slightly jealous, but he'd never tell.
DWDWDWDW
When time was reversed and the Master defeated, Jack unwittingly revealed that he was the Face of Boe, as Martha thought. It gave her another reason to leave the Doctor. She chose her family, but Jack as well. She chose the look he gave her in that dream, or hallucination or whatever it was. She chose a man who wouldn't see her as a placeholder, a warm body while he yearned for someone he couldn't have. She chose someone who saw her, the real Martha. Not the woman who walked the earth (though Jack appreciated her enough for it), not Dr. Jones, not the wayward daughter, but Martha, who sometimes liked to lounge on the sofa eating nachos and drinking a beer watching a Rugby match.
Jack loved her all the same.
It wasn't a hard choice to make in the end.
DWDWDWDW
Jack was sitting on a bench in the park, staring at a picture on his vortex manipulator. The original photo was lost 75 years ago. It was of her and Orion when their son was just born. Orion was their youngest, her baby, a bonafide mama's boy who was never found far from her. Jack wished he could say that he was surprised that Orion had died alongside her, but he knew if any of his children were to choose to die by their mother's side, it would be Orion, even though he had a daughter.
This was not to say that their children weren't close to them. Alastar, Phoebe, Cordelia, Larissa, Andromeda, Luke and Archer Harkness all loved their parents fiercely and just as much as Orion did, even if they were in constant danger just because of their DNA. Al, Andie, Luke, Archer and Larissa weren't immortal at all. They aged slower than regular humans, but they would die. Phoebe and Cordelia had inherited Jack's immortality and were the closest of the children to him because of it. Orion had inherited his mother's gift in ways the others hadn't. It drew him even closes to his mother. Even though he had his daughter, he wouldn't let his mother die alone.
Jack took care of Cassiopeia and watched her get married, have kids, grow old slowly and die, as did his other children, except Phoebe and Cordelia. He was sitting in the park watching his great-great-great grandkids 182 years after his son and wife sacrificed themselves. He still wasn't over it. He missed the love of his life so much it still hurt most days. She was the longest relationship he had ever had. He couldn't deal with the fact his son died when it should've been him. Jack should've been there to make that decision with her, should've made that sacrifice, not his son. His youngest son, his perfect boy, only nineteen years old. His wife, that insane, brilliant, mad, caring, loving woman.
He felt someone sit next to him. He looked over and saw a man in a bow tie and tweed jacket with floppy hair. He turned away without acknowledging him and saw a woman with curly blonde hair walking towards his granddaughter and grandson.
"Auntie River Song," they yelled in greeting, running towards her.
He didn't stop them, even if part of him wanted to. He held resentment towards the Doctor since that day. He knew what she was going to do but didn't stop her. However irrational it was, he blamed im because it was easier than blaming himself for yet another thing he could've prevented and was too weak to. Besides, he liked River. The Doctor chose then to speak.
"Hello Jack. Lovely day. Love days like this, me. Kids playing in the park, parents yelling at them, birds singing. Always did love a good sing-song, even birdsong. Maybe that's why the trigger for the Dreamlord was birds singing. Did I ever tell you about that? Crazy time for us. It was when I traveling with Amy and Rory, and the Dreamlord turned out to be—"
"Doctor, you're rambling," Jack commented, sighing when he finally couldn't take it anymore.
"Ah, yes, right. Sorry."
"What are you doing here?"
"Cordy wanted me to check up on you."
"I don't need checking up on."
"She said last she spoke to you, you seemed more disturbed than usual."
"Why isn't she here?"
"Bit of trouble in the Braxiatel Galaxy, but she's got it. It's just dealing with the re-negotiations of the interplanetary treaty between the Sontarans and the Rutons. You know how they are. She did good work getting them to make peace at all, but it requires constant checking in, negotiations and peace meetings. Boring to me, but she can handle it. Good genes in her for that sort of thing."
Jack smiled softly at the thought of his daughter and then frowned when he realized why he was upset the last time they talked.
"I can't remember her name."
'Who?"
"You know who, her. I promised her before I even knew I was gonna have to, that I would remember her name after she… but I can't remember."
The Doctor didn't comment as he watched Jack steadfastly try and remember his dead wife's name.
"Her last name was Jones, I know that, but her first name started with an N or an M or was it a T. No, T was her sister. I… N or M. I could get that part, her last name, but her first name... N or M, I always get stuck there."
He swiveled his head to the Doctor, a tear ran down his face.
"N or M?"
"M," the Doctor mumbled.
Jack turned back to watch River playing with the kids. He typed something into his vortex manipulator.
"So many M names. You don't realize until you look it up: Mable, Mabry, Macaria, Machiko, Mackenzie, Macy, Madelaine, Madge, Madison, Maegan, and that's only the first ten. There are hundreds, if not thousands. I'll find it though," he declared, wiping his eyes.
"Martha."
"What?" Jack said, freezing.
"Her name was Martha, Martha Jones and she was good."
"She wasn't good. She was brilliant," Jack retorted.
The Doctor didn't mind the tone. Instead, he placed a tentative hand on Jack's shoulder.
"I normally would never condone this, crossing your own timeline, because then you get nostalgic and start to think you can change something or prevent something. You can't, and if you try River and I will stop you, then clean up your mess. And you have to be back by the end of the day, or we're coming for you."
Jack looked at him, confused. The Doctor turned his sonic towards the wrist strap and held it there for a few seconds.
"All transportation abilities restored. One roundtrip trip, that's all, to and back. Go see Martha, but you heard the rules."
Jack smiled hesitantly.
"Really?"
"You're my friend, Jack, even if I could stand to be a better one to you. Go see the woman you love one last time, then get back here and live your life. Don't forget Martha, never do that, but to honor her memory, to honor both she and Orion's memories, move on."
"Thank you."
The Doctor nodded in return.
"But what about –"
"Sorted. Already talked to their mom. She says it's fine if River and I watch them while you go visit Martha."
"I owe you."
"This is a favor between friends."
Jack smiled and walked towards an alleyway. The Doctor smiled as he saw a blue and purple light emanating briefly.
He was glad Martha and Jack had had each other, especially when he treated them less than he should have. It was good that they had loved each other and that their love survived through the ages. Now he realized why Martha was so distraught when the Face of Boe died. Even then, when he was a giant head in a jar and she didn't know him, he loved her, and she loved him.
He looked towards River Song, the dangerous, infuriating, gun-slinging, sexy woman he loved, playing with the children. It was an odd sight, seeing her playing, in a non-threatening way, and with children no less. He knew when she had to go to the library, he'd be a wreck. He would need Jack's help, just like Jack needed his, but he knew he could count on him to make sure he didn't forget the woman he loved, just like he'd make sure Jack didn't forget Martha.