Chapter 2
Deliberation
Thanks to everyone who's reading this, your support means the world!
Disclaimer: Don't own anything.
Apologies, this chapter is significantly shorter. The next one will be longer, so I'll try to post the next one in a shorter increment of time.
Special thanks to chris., Escaped Ninja, The Goddess of Books, PadawannaB, and Pelahnar for reviewing. You get bubbles.
"Give me a moment, Ianto," said the Doctor distractedly, still staring at the watch. "I just need to…" he hurried off without finishing the sentence, across the Hub to the walkway above the medical center.
Martha's eyes were raised to the ceiling, moving in slow circles, tracking the flight of the winged dinosaur looping lazily about the room, now squawking contentedly. "A pterodactyl," she muttered. "You've got a pterodactyl flying around your base."
"She's a pteranodon, actually," said Owen, following her gaze. "We call her Myfanwy."
Martha was about to respond when the Doctor appeared on the walkway overlooking the sunken medical bay.
"Martha." His voice was deceptively calm, but Martha heard the strain, and immediately climbed up the stairs to the catwalk until she stood at his side.
"What is-oh my God." Martha gasped and covered her mouth as she got a better look at the watch in the Doctor's hand, and at the intricate circular designs cut into the metal. "Is that…?"
He nodded gravely.
"Where did you find it?"
The Doctor remained silent, and looking around, Martha realized that all five members of Torchwood were sneaking covert peeks at them out of the corners of their eyes while pretending to work.
"In Ianto's desk," the Doctor breathed, and began walking briskly along the catwalk, through the Hub, down the concrete steps, not stopping until he and Martha were alone by the Weevil cells.
"What do you mean, in Ianto's desk?" Martha asked, still keeping her voice low. One of the Weevils stirred and its face turned toward them, but then it returned to its curled up ball in the corner.
"I mean it's Ianto's watch!" The Doctor held it up, allowing Martha to see a faint golden glow through the hairline crack between the two halves. "And there's definitely someone inside."
"But that's good, isn't it?" said Martha uncertainly. "You're not the last. There's another Time Lord. Or Lady," she added, looking hopeful.
The Doctor shifted, looking uncomfortable. "Martha, there are things I haven't told you about my people and the end of the Time War. When I left…we didn't exactly part on the best of terms, to put it mildly."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"And there's Ianto to consider," the Doctor continued as though he hadn't heard. "He's got an entire life here. A job, a family, someone he loves. If we open this, all that goes away. Ianto Jones is as good as dead."
Martha nodded, feeling a hard lump rise in her throat. She remembered all too vividly having to explain as much to Matron Redfern in 1913. The Doctor was right. They couldn't force someone else to go through that.
"But we have to tell him!" Martha persisted. "He can't just live the rest of his life as a lie!"
"Why not?" said the Doctor, his face impossibly grim, the corners of his mouth turning down in that way that made Martha's stomach clench and her vision go grey. "If he did use the watch to escape the Time War, there's a reason. There's a reason he doesn't want his memories back. God knows there's times when I-" he broke off. For a long while, his eyes fixed on the dirty brick of the wall behind Martha, and in them she saw the pain of centuries, the terror of war, the flame of love, and the dousing anguish of loss. "It's not our decision to make. You're right. We have to tell him. At the right time."
"Oh, right," said Martha sarcastically. "Because there's a right time to tell someone his entire life is a lie, and that he's actually a centuries-old alien whose entire race has been wiped out, and on top of that, they have to die. Great."
The Doctor scowled. "Come on."
As they headed back towards the stairs, they heard the scuffing of frantic footsteps and Jack's voice: "Doctor! Doctor!" The captain emerged, panting.
"Jack, there's something we need to talk to you about," said the Doctor, slowly and firmly.
"Not now!" Jack said breathlessly. "The rift's spiked. Whatever the TARDIS detected, it's coming through."
The Doctor and Martha exchanged looks, then followed Jack back up the stairs, both painfully aware that the reprieve was only temporary.
Sorry it was so short, the next one will definitely be longer.
Actually, since I've got some space to kill, I think I'll add in Mr. YKWYA's author's note, because I'm nice like that.
I'm currently writing a presentation on carbon dating, which is not as exciting as it sounds. And it doesn't sound very exciting to begin with. It's also not two carbon isotopes going out to ice cream and holding hands. Also, the years are marked as BP, before present, but present is a constant of 1950. So that's cool. I'm teaching myself Teeline shorthand, which basically looks like a bunch of squiggles, which is cool because now no one knows what I'm writing. So ha! Not even Caspian, and she's very good at deciphering my not altogether legible handwriting. She's pretty cool, Caspian is. Introduced me to "White Collar" and neglected to mention that Mark Sheppard is in the first episode. I had to chastise her, after engaging in a small fangirl party. He was kind of lame though, being that he only had like 7 minutes of screen time. However, as he is Mark Sheppard, was still bloody brilliant because, as I mentioned before, he is Mark Sheppard. I see a woman right now, she has blue hair that matches her shirt. And her sunglasses. And her nail polish. I christen her Blue Lady. I admire Blue Lady. Her eye shadow is also blue. So is her backpack. She is just the epitome of color coordination.
Well, I think that's enough nonsense for now. Live short and suffer. But not really, I love you guys. But not in that way, as I don't really know you. I love the happiness you bring me when you review, how's that? That sounds good, I think. Very good.
Until next time (:) peas in a pod.