Martha Jones was frightened.
Since day one of meeting the Doctor, she knew the man had flaws. He was arrogant proud, and harbored an unhealthy amount of self hatred. He was a liar and considered his own judgments as gospel for the rest of the universe. He had a terrible temper that could destroy worlds and species.
But Martha also knew that the Doctor was kind. He had a merciful will that shaped his distaste for violence and tyranny. He made it his duty to help the needy and oppressed like some sort of time traveling Robin Hood.
In her mind the Doctor's goodness always balanced out his flaws, but doubt was now starting to creep in.
She had never seen the Doctor so devoid of emotion before. The man was a constant source of energy and information, bounding from adventure to adventure with not as much as a breath in between, all smiles and jokes as they gallivanted off to save the universe. The being beside her radiated a coldness that made every cell in her body erg her to turn and run as far away from him as possible. His presence demanded respect, and she knew that if it wasn't given, mercy would not be received. She was frightened of him in a way that she had never experienced from any other creature, even though she knew on a logical level that he would never hurt her.
The two had been at a brisk walk for the past ten minutes and no words had been exchanged between them, though not for absence of questions to be asked. Martha had no idea what the repercussions could be for traveling into a parallel universe. She didn't know if the Tardis would even start again. And she was extremely curious as to why the newspaper article affected the Doctor in such an extreme way.
Since asking the Doctor was obviously out of the question given his stoic silence, Martha figured the best step would be to retrieve the newspaper that was still clutched tightly in his fisted hand.
"Doctor?" She asked quietly.
The Doctor glanced at her with a mute expression and cold eyes, his pace not slowing. Martha reminded herself that his anger was not directed at her personally.
"May I see the paper?" She pointed at the sheets scrunched in his hand.
He turned his head back towards the winding street road they followed before stiffly handing her the crumpled paper.
Martha slowed her pace slightly; glad that the shopping crowds and traffic had thinned dramatically since the sun had begun its decent. This allowed her not to worry about losing sight of the Doctor while she read.
She scanned the front page article intently.
Apparently the heiress to the Vitex fortune—whatever that was- had killed herself by drinking some sort of lethal poison a week ago. She had been found dead in her house by some painters when she was supposed to be in Norway on vacation.
Martha studied the include picture of the heiress. The image was grainy and unfocused, revealing almost no new details about the mysterious woman. From what Martha could tell, she seemed pretty average to Martha, even had a common name. Rose Tyler.
Rose Tyler.
Rose.
Martha gasped as the realization hit her. How could she have been so stupid?
She glanced over the paper to see the Doctor was quite a bit ahead of her. With a new understanding of the situation Martha jogged back to her place beside him.
But why was the Doctor so distraught over the suicide happening to a parallel Rose? Obviously it would be sad knowing that someone you loved would make such a choice regardless of them being an alternate version…but his reaction seemed a bit excessive.
Unless … Rose hadn't abandoned the Doctor, but she had gotten stuck… stuck in a parallel universe
Well that would explain some things.
…
"Rose, you have to go! Leave me and get out of here!" Rose ignored his angry protests as she worked on the harness that constrained the Doctor to the wall.
"Rose!"
She glanced up into the ice blue eyes that displayed so much terror on her behalf. "I'm not leaving you." She said stubbornly, getting back to the harness.
A shrill scream overcame the blaring sound of alarm bells.
Rose cut the final wire on the harness before turning to the source of the noise. A distraught sob flew from her lips as she looked at the dead figure of the young girl on the floor.
"Rose," The Doctor whispered. She felt his hand slip into hers. "We need to leave. Is there anyone else?"
"No," She choked out. "There're all dead." Hot tears slipped unnoticed down her face.
Rose flew upright her whole body shaking as she awoke.
Just a dream. It's not going to happen again. It was just a dream.
She was still shaking as she stood up to pace her small cell that the shadow creatures had left her in. Her resolve to change the events that happened here were now stronger than ever.
"No one is going to die this time." The blonde whispered to herself as she wiped the stray tears from her face.
Deciding that a distraction was what she needed, Rose lifted a hand to her hair in order to remove the clip that was holding it up. She had always found a strange comfort in the familiar act of plaiting her hair, and right now she could use familiar.
She ran her hands through the soft strands before shaking her head slightly to relieve the soreness from a tight bun. The golden tendrils fell over her shoulders and Rose ran them over her fingers absentmindedly.
Wait.
Rose's eyes widened as her hands flew up to grasp both sides of her hair, bringing the lengths up to her face. The hair was her same color, only longer. In fact she hadn't had it this long in nearly four years, not since she first started traveling with…"
Oh.
With a heavy sigh Rose gave the rest of her body a quick examination, noticing the subtle differences. She was in the body of her nineteen year old self. She hadn't looked in a mirror since she arrived on the Tardis and had been a bit preoccupied to notice the differences.
This day is just getting better and better.
…
After walking for almost an hour when the Martha and the Doctor arrived at a large metal gate that was supported by a stone wall that encompassed the rest of the large property. A buzzer and code pad were attached to the side of the stone outcropping and Martha gave the Doctor a questioning look.
"I doubt they are going to be taking visitors."
The Doctor ignored her point and reached into his pocket for the sonic screwdriver. After running it along the key pad twice, the gate unlocked.
Martha gazed at the dirt road that led up to the large estate.
"Um Doctor, don't you think they probably have security…"
Once again the Doctor ignored her and began the walk up to the mansion. Martha hurriedly followed.
A sharp buzzing noise pierced the air before three men in dark suits appeared.
"You are trespassing on the Tyler Estate. This is private property."
Two of the men advanced on the Doctor who looked unconcerned with the interruption, and let the men pull his hands behind his back. Martha took the Doctors lead and calmly allowed the third man to grab her hands before walking in the direction indicated.
The small group reached the house and Martha held in a gasp. The building was absolutely stunning, and held an elegance that seemed almost timeless. What she wouldn't give to be able to live here. A small stirring of jealousy nipped at her heart as she thought of Rose living in this beautiful house.
The suited guards led them to a small back door behind the house that entered into an elegant parlor.
"Wait here." The tallest guard ordered them. The three men left the room and Martha listened to the faint sound of classical music drifting from somewhere above.
Suddenly the door to the parlor was thrown open and an angry middle aged man with ginger hair stormed through.
"I don't care how much you are getting paid to get pictures of this family, but I guarantee you it won't even compare to what I am going to sue you for!" The man yelled.
"Pictures?" Martha asked, slightly scared by the man's anger.
"Yes pictures! This family is in mourning and if the media could have some damn respect!"
"So it's true then." The Doctor whispered.
"True!" The man snapped, turning to face the Doctor.
"What in God's name do you-" A gasp escaped the man lips followed by an expression of pure shock.
"Doctor?" The man whispered.
"Pete." The Doctor said, his eyes rising from the floor to meet his.
Pete Tyler gave the Doctor a long look before rushing out of the room.
"What was that about?" Martha asked, curiously.
Before the Doctor could respond the door opened back up and a middle aged woman with dyed blonde hair walked into the room, a look of absolute sorrow on her face.
"Is it really you then?" Asked Jackie Tyler.
"Yes." The Doctor prepared himself for a slap that he felt he most definitely deserved when Jackie started to advance on him. He was shocked however when he felt a shaking body embrace him.
"She thought we would never see you again!"
"Jackie, you need to tell me what happened. I'm guessing this was some kind of setup right? Was there some kind of threat to Rose? She needed to disappear so you faked her death?" He patted the woman's hair in a comforting gesture.
"You're too late Doctor." Jackie sobbed into his coat. "If you could have come just a week earlier."
The Doctor stiffened and pulled Jackie up so that he could look at her face.
"I don't understand?" He asked quietly. "Where's Rose."
Jackie stood and took the Doctor's hand, while the tears still flowed down her face. "She's–" The distressed mother choked back a sob. "She's dead. She committed suicide a week ago."
The Doctors face paled. "No."
He stood and gently pushed Jackie aside so he could pace the room.
"No she isn't. Rose wouldn't do that. She's alive, she-" The hysterical edge in his voice broke Martha's heart. She watched as the Doctor slide down the wall with his head in his hands, deciding it was better to give him some space.
"This is my fault." He finally choked out, tears freely running down his face now.
No one in the room said anything as they occupants all mourned for the life that was lost. Martha, although sad for the obvious pain these people were in, was still confused on the Doctor's relationship to this parallel family. Did all of them get stuck in this universe? What in the world had happened?
"I want to see her." The Doctors whispered plea broke the heavy silence that filled the room.
"But –" Pete began, noticing the darkness outside the parlor window.
"Please ..." The sorrow that filled his voice broke Pete's reasoning.
"Come with me."
….