A/N: - Krap. I have just made the biggest mistake known to humanity (well to the Elf Society and Fanfiction at least). I forgot to mention in Chapter Ten that "Martha's" appearance is set a couple of days later after they find out about the Life Knife. Anyway, that's now been fixed and you can have a read of the changes in that chapter if you want, but as long as you know that EVERYTHING isn't happening on the same day.
WOO!! It's the half-term break, fro me at least! We got an extra day off cuz of the beloved INSET day! (Everyone else I know, that goes to a diffo school, still has school today! Even my lil bro…) Thank the amazing peep who made this WONDERFUL day up. Sooo bored, right now and a review would really brighten up my day.
Magic shoes for all! *lobs shoes into the air* Oh come on people, a shoe can't hurt that much, can it? Especially if it's a MAGIC one… Stop ye whining! LOLz
HAPPY READING!
Btw, this is sort of like a filler chapter, 'cos I really wanted to get stuck in on the next one.
=D =D =D =D =D
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"What's this for? You're acting as though I've just escaped my death bed – not come back from a one-day mission!" Martha laughed, as she withdrew from Jack's bone crushing clutches, with a clearly stumped expression.
Ignoring the mouth-watering aroma that wafted its way up to her nose, Martha carefully placed the pizza boxes onto the side and studied Captain Jack's sullen mood.
Jack frowned and felt his eyebrows furrow, "You really don't know?"
"Is there something I should know?"
But, as the Captain opened his mouth to speak, he'd been beaten to it by a stampede of cheers and hugs, who all flocked toward Martha and immediately grabbed her into the celebrations – who was currently being bombarded by questions.
Releasing herself from the muffled chattering and friendly embraces, smiling at the pokerfaced Time Lord, Martha strode over to the Doctor and pulled him into hug – which he didn't reciprocate with.
"You're not Martha Jones," The Doctor stated darkly, shrugging away.
"'Scuse me?" the young woman replied, slightly hurt but most of all – confused. She'd only gone off on barely a two-day mission, (that she didn't even complete) and they were all acting as if something had happened to her. Something terrible. Nevertheless, there she was, fine and dandy, so what was the fuss? First, Jack and now, the Doctor. What was up with everyone today?
"I said you're not Martha Jones," the Doctor repeated and the timbre in his voice deepened rapidly, "I don't who you are or where you come from, but I'm warning you now, show yourself." The Doctor gaited forward decisively and practically obscured Martha's view with his (skinny) frame. "By the power of the Shadow Proclamation, I demand you to state your name, race, planet of origin and intentions."
"Doctor…"
"Doc, what're you talking about? - this is Martha," Jack stepped in resourcefully and then a sudden epiphany rang in his head, leading him to shake his head in disbelief. "Oh come on, you're not saying… Don't you think I would've known if someone broke into the Hub? I do run the place, you know."
"Oh and that's why you locked yourself out of the Hub, 'cos you 'forgot' the base code?" Gwen asked cheekily, in her strong Welsh accent but only influenced hard glares from her boss and a promptly stifled chuckle from Ianto.
"Gwen, now is not the time," Jack, replied seriously, his goodness-knows-how-many-year-old head trying to analyse the weightiness of the situation
Gwen blushed and stepped back vaguely, muttering, "Sorry."
Jack's head was whirring with possibilities – the Doctor's prediction couldn't be true could it? The Captain counted the reasons off in his head: she, well as far as they knew anyway, looked like Martha, she sounded like Martha, she smelt like Martha, she sure-enough felt like Martha – judging from their long-lasting embrace but he'd have to test the taste theory later…
"Can somebody please tell me what the hell is goin' on here?" Martha insisted, but proved no prevail.
"You can't just assume that she's some sort of alien intruder! Where's the evidence? I mean, if Martha really is an alien then wouldn't she have attacked by now? Can't you accept the fact that she's alive and happy?" Jack protested and added coldly. "Or is that too much to ask?"
The Doctor shot the Captain daggers.
"If I can just…?" Ianto broke the silence and gestured himself speaking, triggering a small nod from the Doctor who refused to remove his cold glare away from the Captain.
"I'm not sure what it was called, but you had that bleepy blue device and you used it to scan Gwen to see what was wrong with her – I was just thinking, maybe you could somehow use it to see whether it's the real Martha or not?" He crooked his head around to sheepishly face Martha. "Not that I don't believe it's you, of course."
"Of course! Why didn't I think of that before?" the Doctor's face instantly lit up. "Ianto, wasn't it? That's not a bad idea actually - brilliant in fact!"
The Doctor's face darkened, as he glanced at the so-called Martha out of the corner of his eye, but he stuck his hand in his breast pocket and produced his trusty Sonic Screwdriver. Muttering, he walked towards Martha and pointed it at her.
"If I just… flip the settings to, oh… 37.5 and then adjust the binary-code settings to maximum power – redirecting the multiplexity self-assessing triple quadropicular settings to analyse bodily functions and deoxyribonucleic acid, otherwise known as D.N.A. If I remember correctly, which I do very well – might I just modestly add, I have Martha Jones's blood sample stored in the Screwdriver, from the last time we went trampling through the 'Forbidden Jungle' without permission and ignored the warning signs."
"You mind taking out the 'we'. Wasn't that just you, who ignored the warnings?" Martha interrupted, with a smile.
"Let's just see if who you claim to be…" The Doctor ignored her and gave a final button press and the blue light flickered in Martha's direction, as the clever device scanned the woman up and down.
Removing the Sonic Screwdriver from the even now perplexed Martha, the Doctor skimmed the readings and the guilty sheepish expression his face bore as he looked up, told all.
"So…" Martha asked testily, "Am I an intruder or not?"
The Doctor grinned and scooped the girl up into an warm hug, apologising under his breath.
"Sorry," he uttered finally to Martha – this time loud enough for everyone to hear. "Let's just say it hasn't been my sort of week."
"Now, would someone explain to me, please, why you'll all so tense and acting as if I've just escaped death?"
The Doctor and Jack exchanged glances, then the tale was told from start to finish, beginning at the Doctor's sudden appearance, Donna's wiped memory, the shocking news, the Life Knife, the discovery and all leading up to the reports of the twenty-eight deceased and why Martha's presence had shocked them all. Of course, all of that and minus the interruptions of Martha's mobile ringing with a dozen shocked, awed and squeamish family members to answer to, all unable to believe the stunning fact that the news was wrong and Martha Jones was still alive.
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"... And that leads up to now," Jack concluded.
"You're joking?" Martha gasped in disbelief, now settled down on the Hub's small green couch with a cup of Ianto's magical secret-recipe coffee in her hands. She stared around at them all, looking for the small piece of body language that would send one of them into a fit of laughter, but only found four sombrely deadpan faces and smiled weakly. "This is just…"
"Confusing?"
"Unbelievable?"
"Annoying?"
The corners of her lips twitched and curved upwards broadly, accompanied by a raised eyebrow. "I was gonna say that the coffee was absolutely amazing but…"
They all laughed, but the silence fell upon them again.
"…"
"I still can't believe that about Donna, I mean how's she gonna cope? And Rose… I really am sorry, Doctor," Martha rested a comforting hand on top of the Doctor's, who grinned – a little too unconvincingly.
"Nah, no need! Everything's fine now – as right as rain! Funny expression that, you know, 'cos all you humans ever do is always complain about how much you hate the rain and hate getting wet, wishing for more sun and moving to Spain. But then one day one of your lots goes and invents a saying how good as rain, everything is. But I s'pose it wouldn't be as catchy if you had to go around saying, 'As right as sun'. It wouldn't give the same kinda ring, don't you think?
"Donna's fine! Her family's keeping a look out for her, and she'll be alright without me… You know, Nobles, they always pull through! And Rose… Rose is… She's… Yeah."
"No you're not alright," Martha said quietly.
"Anyway!" the Doctor exclaimed brightly, "We've told you our side of the story, so how about you 'spill the beans' – another strange expression that, humans, you never fail to amaze me."
Jack's American lingo frazzled the awkwardness of the situation. "What I want to know, Martha Jones, is how in the name of TARDIS you managed to fake your own death."
"But, that's the thing, I didn't," Martha said for what she thought was the millionth repetition.
"But it was on the news and everythin'," Mickey contradicted. "I saw the explosion myself – the whole thing – beginning till end and it looked real, alright. We all saw it, didn't we, Gwen?"
Gwen nodded.
"I didn't fake my own death or escape from anything, because… I didn't do the mission," Martha confessed.
They all stared at her.
"It was on such a short notice and you should know," Martha looked up at Jack. "You were there Jack, but I couldn't turn them down, well not exactly after all the things I've put UNIT through."
"What you put UNIT through?" Jack laughed coldly.
"It was an irrational decision, I know, and deep down, I couldn't do it… I just couldn't… It was a huge risk and none of us knew the consequences, but that's when I found my chance."
"Why didn't you just tell them you didn't want to do it?" Gwen butted in.
"I signed the contract – they more or less forced me to, the minute I got there, saying that I wasn't allowed to back out of the game. But that's when I met Professor Docherty again – Doctor, Jack, you must remember her – on the Valiant with the Master."
The Doctor nodded and Jack shivered in remembrance, while Ianto, Gwen and Mickey just shrugged at each other unknowingly.
"It turned out; UNIT had offered her a job as researcher and archaeologist. It just so happened that she was in on this mission – but she wasn't allowed to participate hands-on with this mission because of her age," Martha added. "Sorry, forgot to tell you, UNIT has this age policy… Anyway, I didn't want to go but Professor Docherty did. She'd seen the reports of the Crucible and she'd go on about how she'd love to actually go up into space, and explore the alien ruins to see it all for herself.
"Then there was my chance. We swapped uniforms on the day and I sneaked out of base, while she took my place on the mission and I left… I went to the hospital to see Tom and I thought I'd visit you guys and…"
It was as if a bomb had been ticking in her head and now, it found its chance to explode. Abruptly, Martha gasped and tears welled up in her eyes, but she blinked them back reluctantly. Martha, what have you done?
"Oh. Twenty-eight: she was one of the twenty-eight… I sent Professor Docherty to her deathbed."
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10:30pm.
Three rounds of pizza and Pepsi later, Martha finished nibbling the slice of her Meat Feast pizza and leaned back into the comfy green couch, reflecting on just… everything. Today, she was the reason for somebody's death and Martha couldn't get over it. It was all her fault.
"Try not to kill yourself over it – Ianto won't be appreciating it in the morning," Gwen said to her, and succumbed to a small chuckle with Martha. "No matter what you say Martha, I'm with Jack on this an' it wasn't your fault. Be glad you're still 'ere, eh? "
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"'M headin' home boss," Mickey called out to the Captain, picking up his belongings and popping his empty coffee mug on the table.
"Mickey Smith, you walk out that door then don't bother coming back tomorrow," the Captain warned him jokily, poking his head round the door to laugh at Mickey's stunned expression. He nodded "Go on: off you go." A sudden thought came to his head. "Oh and Mickey-the-idiot, I want that flat of mine spotless."
Grinning to himself, Mickey walked out into the corridor and yelled back, "Whatever you say Captain Cheesecake."
Ever since that gorgeous sunny afternoon, when Mickey had decided to stay on this Earth and not the Parallel, Captain Jack had lent Mickey the keys to the spare flat he'd never found the need to use, because he'd spent so much time at Torchwood that he'd set up camp there instead.
So for the past six evenings, including this one, Mickey mooched back to his temporary
'home' where he was situated to stay in, until he found the cash and time to buy himself a proper flat to call his own.
Torchwood was like his proper home now, though, even though he'd barely worked there a week and he was loving the work he got picked to do – because, now he was back, he loved the feeling that he was part of a team and not just a spare part anymore. It made him feel independent and his own person, for once in his life.
Though he had to admit, the Doctor's visit had messed everything right up.
But where was life without the pressure?
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Treading reluctantly through the trays of messy congealed scraps of pizza, Gwen fished her coat off the back of her chair, and bid them goodbye – hitting the haystack for the night. The Doctor warned her in advance that she'd need to get a lot of sleep if Gwen wanted to hear what was in for her tomorrow…
She suspected it was something to boost their chances and maybe something that wasn't entirely easy, as he refused to tell her. All this flipping Knife shenanigans seemed to be draining all the energy out of her, but a quick scan from the alien-tech scanner showed no energy spikes. Therefore, she was stuck with it, for now.
Gwen didn't want to disappoint the Doctor, for his chances to save the infamous Rose because she knew how many more lives would go to waste if they didn't try to save just this one, and she didn't want to let down her team. Both Torchwood and the Doctor relied on her to get them somewhere, because for some weirded out reason she was special, much to her bemusement, and was the only one that could use the Life Knife. Use its power to cut windows into space, time and… Universes.
But this reputation made her tired and certainly didn't help her relationship with Rhys, so she was afraid that she'd have to back out of the project very soon – if things didn't improve and dragged on for a lot further. She'd overheard the Doctor and Captain Jack bicker more than enough times to know that they were both aware, that their chance of saving Rose was slim now and they'd have to go through a hell lot more until something actually happened.
The world was a strange place.
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Humming to himself, Ianto washed the last of the coffee mugs and stacked them on the drying rack. Checking that the coffee machine was fully stocked up for the next day on the way, he serenely skipped down the grilled stairs with the bucket of raw meat and fed a happily contented Myfanwy who cawed and flapped her wings, at the young man's presence.
"There we go girl…" he muttered softly, patting her head. All that time he'd spent training her and feeding really paid off, enabling him to have a Pterodactyl as a good friend and pet. To be honest, Ianto reckoned that the secretive stashes of chocolate he discreetly gave the Pterodactyl softened her up a bit.
Ianto, willingly, cleared up the rest of the mess and put everything to perfection before packing up to go home, seeing as Jack was busy escorting Martha back home to check on her family. Nodding politely at the Doctor, who found his comfort sifting through a bunch of files, Ianto set up the security instalments for the night, closed down the fake tourism office and traipsed back home.
"What the hell?" Ianto wondered aloud, gaping at the sight of a weevil carrying a six-pack of beer, a handful of suspiciously colourful bottles, a load of other bizarre things and a ripped pack of crisps. The weevil gave Ianto a piercing glare and hobbled back down the manhole and into the sewers.
A flabbergasted and extremely confused Indian shopkeeper ambled out into the street, cursing under his breath and scratching his head as he failed to find the strange thing that had shoplifted half his Convenience Store.
Ianto frowned, sighed and dawdled back on his way – reciting the words of Amarillo in his head.
The Universe was a funny old thing.
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"Expecting you to report to work tomorrow, Miss Jones," Jack stated cheekily, before grabbing Martha into a goodbye hug and grinning wildly.
"Sure thing sir," Martha smiled widely and mock saluted her ex-boss, who clambered back into the SUV and winked at her.
Grinning, Martha sprinted up the smoothly cemented grey pavestones and rapped on the door to her mum and dad's house. Not long after, she was greeted and pulled into an enormous affectionate embrace by a highly ecstatic Tish and a just as worried and happy Francine Jones – followed by the rest of the family, who nearly-but-didn't crush her.
"Martha!" Tish cried out, "Where the hell 'ave you been?"
"Thank goodness you're alive!" exclaimed Francine, "Darling, what's been going on?"
"It's really you," Clive Jones joined in. "But the news…"
"Where's my little favourite sister been?" Leo seemed to be the only sane one around here and calmly 'respected' her with a clang on knuckles and a tight hug.
She was home and life was good.
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Giving a final wave at a family-surrounded Martha, Jack saluted the girl who had the voice of a nightingale and drove off into the night – managing to chase a weevil or two back into the sewers, with his (reckless) charming driving skills.
Blasting up the volume to maximum, much to some fellow motorist's annoyance, Captain Jack loudly sang along to the radio as he zoomed down the highway – without a care in the world.
"Next stop, Torchwood," he murmured to himself, swerving a dodgy motorcyclist and turning a corner.
Life was long, for him at least, and he had to make the most it while he still could.
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Time couldn't be going any slower, for the Doctor, as he sped-read through armfuls of unwanted papers – trying to spot even the slightest hint of Life Knife phenomena or Time Windows but failed doing so.
Tomorrow, he'd have to ask Gwen to work her magic on the Knife again and endeavour open a window – it hadn't worked so far and he doubted it would work this time, but what was life if you gave up every five minutes? It was worth a try. The Doctor decided he'd take a risk, that wouldn't put the Universe but put his mind in danger, by allowing his Time Lord consciousness to connect with Gwen's mind to try and boost the power of opening a Time Window.
Rubbing his eyes, the Doctor got through all the security checks, and exited the Hub – lumbering back to the TARDIS. The ship hummed with delight and the happiest of emotions flooded into the Doctor's head, as the TARDIS welcomed its owner once again.
"Found another way, old girl?" he said softly, padding over to the TARDIS's Gallifreyan computer monitor.
The TARDIS's lights dimmed, to motion to the Time Lord that the ship had found no success. In companionable silence with his ship, the Doctor tinkered with a couple of controls and read the swirly circular symbols on the screen in satisfaction. What they were doing at Torchwood, luckily and fortunately, wasn't harming the Universe at all and it seemed as if only the Rift was being affected – nothing dangerous or life-threatening though.
It would be a week tomorrow, since Torchwood and he had started working on the project to get Rose back, but a week tomorrow, the Doctor was sure that nothing would happen. Just the same results, all over again. Even if they did get there in the end and managed their way back into Rose's Universe – he suspected things would've already taken a turn for the worst.
However, if that was the case, which he would have to accept when the time came, at least he knew that he tried his best. Even if all chances were down, he hoped he could just see Rose, if only for the last time, to tell her the something he'd been meaning to tell her all these years.
Better late than never…
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A/N:-
Try this funky riddle out:
No legs have I to dance,
No lungs have I to breathe,
No life have I to live or die
And yet I do all three.
What am I?
THANKS FOR READING AND REVIEWING!
Now if you'd just scroll down and press a certain little greenish button there…