This was so fun to write. You guys don't even know.
Two months went by for the travellers in the TARDIS.
Some days they visited other planets. Usually recreational places only: markets and bazaars, theme parks and museums, gardens, parties, and once to a holo-film theater. Sometimes things didn't go as planned and they were either kicked out, or arrested and then kicked out. Other times they were arrested and then told to leave and instead of being forcefully banned, they were simply requested to not return.
Like on the planet Orobis, which was quite a lovely place, with a pink sky and two red suns, and an indigenous population that was very hospitable. The three of them had been walking down the street looking at the various shops, the Doctor and Rose holding hands as usual. It was going fine until he offered his hand to Martha as well. Thirty seconds later he was being arrested for polygamy.
Orobis was, as a whole, very religious and apparently their god had decreed a man could only have one wife. So the Doctor, being the man, was decreed to be the guilty party and was chucked in jail while Martha and Rose were whisked away to undergo a ceremony that would break the marital bonds and free them from their life of sin. They hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise up until the point when they were informed that their clothes would be confiscated and burned for some stupid symbolic reason. Then they managed to get the priests and priestesses to shut up long enough to explain the relationship between the three of them—or lack thereof. An hour later the Doctor was free from prison and they were escorted back to the TARDIS with requests to not return in the near future.
On the flip side of this was Lua, a small planet with four hours of day and twenty-eight of night. The indigenous people were, for lack of a better word, werewolves. Unlike the Lupine Wavelength Haemovariform, the creatures here had only one form, that of a humanoid lupine. They were intelligent and fiercely protective of all that was theirs, especially in the days before their civilizations began to rise. The Doctor, Rose, and Martha found this out the hard way.
They'd landed smack in the middle of the territory of a pack that had just emerged from a feud with a rival pack. The sudden, alien appearance of the TARDIS had spooked a scout and it had gone to alert the pack. Unaware of this, the three travelers had set out into the woods with torches for light and within minutes they were running from a horde of snarling figures in the dark. They got separated; Martha was taken first, then Rose, and finally the Doctor. They were hauled back to the village and Martha and the Doctor were thrown into their equivalent of prison. Rose, however, was not there. Martha wondered aloud if Rose had fought back and they'd killed her. Then she had to keep the suddenly irate Time Lord from setting fire to the building, salting the earth, and cursing the firstborns.
Two hours later the doors to the jail were opened and in stepped Rose, adorned with jewelry and a wrapped in a fur cloak, completely unharmed. The Doctor had snatched her up into a bone-crushing hug that would have been perceived as a threat by her escorts had she not immediately wrapped her arms around him in response.
"What happened?" he demanded. "I thought you'd…"
She put her hands on his cheeks to sooth him. "It's actually kind of a funny story. You remember the werewolf in Scotland? Down in the cellar, before he transformed, he said I had 'something of the wolf' about me. Well, whatever it is, this lot can sense it too. They believe it means their goddess has blessed me. I'm practically royalty. The Alpha has asked me if I wished to marry his son, and everythin'. Told 'em I had to respectfully decline because I'm already married. We've been invited to dinner with the Alpha's family. I think he wants to apologize."
The Alpha did apologize but then turned right around and scolded them for encroaching on their turf and scaring the poor sentry half to death so soon after a feud. Then he said that since they were aliens that they couldn't be expected to know about such tings. There were requests for them to stay among their pack for a time because, surely, the presence of a goddess-blessed would be beneficial to their lands. Rose could think of no way to decline without seeming heartless but Martha, thinking quickly, said that they had their own families back on their planet that would miss them terribly if they were gone too long. Then she, with a sly look in her direction, suggested that Rose could simply pray to the goddess on their behalf.
Another time the Doctor took them to the planet Isara to visit Lilah, the young elflike girl Rose had befriended the last time they were there. She was five years older than when Rose last saw her (the Doctor insisted he'd landed in that year on purpose) and was an adolescent at this point and was very excited to see Rose.
Rose brought the hot pink casts out so Lilah could see the color again and told her about the new names and why she'd had to wear it the last time. When she thought he wouldn't overhear, Lilah quietly asked if the Doctor and Rose were married yet. (Of course she hadn't known that the Doctor had exceptional hearing and that he'd still be able to hear her even from all the way over there. That got him thinking about Shareen Costello's words again.)
As it turned out, there was a reason the TARDIS had taken them to that date. The people of Isara all had elemental affinities that they called 'magick,' which they came into during puberty. Liliah had already gotten hers—earth—and the swirling patterns across her hands had turned from the white of youth to the green and brown of one gifted with earth magick.
A boy had decided to practice his fire magick without his mentor around, knowing full well that most of those with water magick had gone down into the valley to practice and swim. If it hadn't been for the Doctor's quick thinking and sonic screwdriver, the entire village would've probably been burned to the ground. They stuck around for the cleanup this time. The Doctor drew up plans for a fire hydrant system in case something like this happened again, suggesting they spread the idea to the neighboring communities. Martha used her medical skills to help their healers treat the wounded and was able to give them a few tips while they in turn gave her some knowledge as well. Rose helped dig through the rubble for anything that could be scavenged and helped console those who had all or part of their homes.
They were sent off with many thanks, gifts, and promises that, even if they never returned, they would never be forgotten.
Martha was feeling particularly pleased after that planet. "That was great. I mean I know it's horrible that they got hurt, but getting to help like that. They were so…happy. Every single one of them that I helped thanked me. One older woman, she blessed me with her magick."
"She blessed you?" the Doctor asked interestedly. "What kind of magick could she do?"
"I dunno," Martha said.
"The patterns on her hands, what color were they?"
Martha had to think about it for a second. "Silver."
The Doctor's eyes shot towards his hairline. "Ooooh. Now that is interesting. What did she say?"
"She…she told me that I'd have a long, good life and that I'd meet my love at the darkest time."
The Doctor nodded slowly but she couldn't tell from his expression what he thought about it. She glanced at Rose who shrugged, just as confused as she was. "That's good news, then." The Doctor said at last. "Remember how I told you a few humans are low-level psychics? Well, a handful of Isarans don't develop affinities for any of the natural elements. She must've been one of them if she had silver hands. She wasn't blessing you, she was telling you your future."
"She what?"
"Or, well, she was telling you your most likely future based on the current way our timelines are progressing. You have a lot of potential futures. I can see them around you," he gestured at her vaguely. "I make it a point not to look at my companions' possible futures if I can help it—I don't really want to know, to be quite honest—but I'd bet you anything, if I looked at your most probable future, it'd match up."
Martha curled her mouth and nodded. "Good to know, then. But…what'd she mean by 'darkest time?'"
"Ooh, beats me."
She smiled and started to walk away, but then she stopped abruptly, spinning around. "I nearly forgot! She said one other thing before she left. She looked right at you and said, 'He is not alone.'"
The Doctor raised his eyebrows again. "Those exact words? Nothing more?"
"Nope. …It's like what the Face of Boe said."
"It's exactly what the Face of Boe said," he muttered to himself. "But it can't be. I would know…" Running his hand through his hair in agitation, he disappeared into the bowels of the TARDIS. Neither companion followed him.
When they weren't going to other planets or spending their days within the TARDIS, they were hopping through Earth's history.
They went to see the 2008 Olympics and the Doctor had the TARDIS sweep for any ionic energy (just in case), which led to Rose explaining the 2012 Olympics and the Isolus. They stayed for the whole event. Rose dug out her old Union Jack t-shirt and the Doctor refused to don anything with a flag on it, opting instead to wear his blue suit and red chucks. Great Britain ended up being one of the top five countries. Rose commented that, once again, Papua New Guinea went home medal-less.
"What? I never said they would actually win anything," was his defense.
They went to see the first moon landing—once from Earth and once from the moon itself. Though the latter ended rather abruptly when one of the astronauts turned and noticed them peering out from behind a large rock wearing spacesuits and well beyond the TARDIS perception filter. They'd had to leg it down to Earth and inform NASA that, no, they weren't Russians or residents of the moon, and that, yes, he was the Doctor and he was just entertaining his two companions with a bit of Earth history. If they had any issue with that they could contact a certain Brigadier at UNIT. Then, for the hell of it, they jumped ahead to the next landing and did it again.
On a dare from Rose, they went to the year 447 and Martha threw two eggs at Atilla the Hun. She would've thrown three but she only managed to land two before he was up and charging. They went to the year 1129 and they got proper fruit juice, like the Doctor had promised back in the hospital. One time he told Martha to pick eight random numbers between 0 and 9, which he then used as date coordinates. They did that three times.
Some days they didn't leave the Vortex. These days were spent getting to know each other, talking, and wandering the TARDIS. They watched the Doctor tinker and do maintenance and helped when they could. They located the pool and he fixed the heater and when the three of them came back in their swimsuits they found a diving board and a waterslide ready and waiting. They sat in the library for hours and listened raptly as the Doctor read aloud the final Harry Potter book, because Rose insisted that the books were a thousand times better when the Doctor read them.
Martha agreed.
She and Rose liked to roam around the wardrobe and search for interesting clothes. One time the TARDIS rearranged things so all of the Doctor's old outfits were laid out together on a shelf. It took the girls a few minutes to figure out what the odd array of outfits had in common, until Rose realized there were nine of them total, with his old black leather jacket and a burgundy jumper being at the end of the line, and the rest quickly fell into place. Every day for the next nine days, they dropped one piece of his outfits somewhere in the TARDIS that he would find. The first day they hung a frock coat over the back of the chair in the kitchen. Unfortunately they weren't around to witness his discovery of it, though Martha glimpsed him heading into the wardrobe with the coat in hand.
The next day he found Rose in the library, unaware that she'd been waiting for him. "Doctor," she said without looking up from her book, "I think Cruella DeVille is passed out drunk over in the biographies section."
He blinked. "What?"
She turned the page. "Either that or there's a dead bear over there."
Completely baffled, the Doctor went to investigate, and returned with an oversized fur coat in his hands. She looked up from her book and arched her eyebrows. "Not Cruella, then?"
The next day Martha was present to witness his surprise at discovering an opera cape hanging from the diamond coat rack in the library. When the three of them went into the console room the following morning, they saw an absurdly long multi-colored scarf decorating several of the coral struts. Martha's work, since Rose had been curled up against the Doctor's chest all night. The fifth day he found a plate of celery in the kitchen, though when they questioned each other, both girls denied having put it out. By then he was getting suspicious and Rose caught him scouring the wardrobe, but when she checked the place where all his outfits had been recently, she found that all but one of them had been moved, proving that the TARDIS was, in fact, in on the joke.
The sixth day they put a colorful coat that he must've stolen from the circus on the pilot's chair. The seventh day they hung a black umbrella with a red question mark handle from the chandelier near the door to the garden. The eighth day Martha randomly dropped the long green velvet jacket in the hallway and hoped the TARDIS would switch hallways up so he'd find it. The ninth day, Rose walked around wearing his leather jacket until he finally noticed her, and stared.
"What?" she asked innocently and left the room. She wore it for the rest of the day and at dinner, Martha showed up with a panama hat on her head.
"Something the matter, Doctor?" she asked when he gawked at them.
"B-but—but how did you…I thought it was the TARDIS!"
Rose arched one eyebrow. "Did you really run around in an opera cape?"
More than once Martha would come across the Doctor and Rose, take one look at them, and turned right around and leave. They weren't ever up to anything; just cuddling on the couch in the library or sitting together in the kitchen, laughing and talking. They just looked so right together and she didn't want to spoil it. Other times she stood there, watching them and waiting to be noticed. It was those times where she realized how much they loved each other, even if they never said. It was in everything they did: in their eyes whenever they met, in their hugs, in the way their fingers curled together, whenever they kissed (platonically and not-so-platonically, though the latter occurred far less often), and sometimes heard between sentences, hidden behind other words.
Whenever she saw them together, she couldn't deny that she felt a bit envious of the pair. Okay, more than a little bit. Though what were the chances any man would ever look at her the way the Doctor looked at Rose? He may have very well single-handedly ruined every man for her, because after seeing the two of them, how could she not compare everything any man would do or give her to what she'd seen the Doctor do for Rose, or what the Doctor had done for her?
A bouquet of flowers: the Doctor took them to a planet with endless rolling hills with valleys of flowers and tall grass that tickled their skin.
Chocolate: nothing on Earth could compare to the chocolate they'd had on one of the Dancing Moons in 11349.
A date to the movies: they'd met Shakespeare and went to a holo-film theater. (The only exception would probably be if they went on a date to see Terminator 4, which the Doctor still refused to take them to.)
Dinner at a fancy restaurant: they went to a masquerade on a planet where she was treated like royalty for having dark skin, hair, and eyes. (The Doctor did that solely for her, since Rose—with her light hair and skin—was about as low as a servant. Though neither of them seemed too bothered by the fact that no one asked Rose to dance and they were able to spend the entire evening in each other's company. …Yeah, better add that to the list of things as well.)
A holiday somewhere nice: she went on holidays almost every day with these two! Actually, her whole life them was one big holiday when she thought about it.
A stable life, a house, and kids: the Doctor gave her all of time and space.
It was enough to make her bang her head against the coral strut in her room in frustration. Several times.
Some days Martha thought of her family repeatedly. She wondered how they were doing without her—how much time for them had passed or would pass until they landed back in her flat for a visit. And the Doctor promised they could visit whenever she wanted to. She didn't. Not yet.
She wanted to live this life for a little longer because going back would mean going back to finish medical school, because she would've only had a few days off if she hadn't gone with them. Going back would also mean facing her mother and having to hear her go on about the Doctor and Rose and them being dangerous. (But she was dangerous too now, wasn't she?) Going back would mean getting sucked back into her family's drama. Going back would mean staying back, even if it were only for a while.
And when she was done with med school she would return to the TARDIS to travel—but that meant she'd either have to come up with an excuse to be absent for extended periods of time (repeatedly if she ever planned to visit)…or tell her family the truth. Neither option seemed pleasant.
Some days she didn't think about her family at all. At first when she'd realize, she'd feel bad about it for a while afterwards. For all their faults, they were still her family. But gradually she became less bothered. Everyone on the TARDIS was running from something. Hell, even the TARDIS herself was probably running from something. Martha was no different.
"I want to visit New York City," Martha said one morning after breakfast when they were in the console room.
"To see Cheen and Milo's baby?" Rose asked.
"No, I want to go to New York City. The original one in America. Always wanted to go."
"Blimey, why didn't I ever think of that?" she smacked her forehead. "Can we go?"
"Sure, why not." The Doctor smiled at them and moved to set their coordinates. "We've been mucking around in the past for the past few weeks so how does 2130 sound? The future, but near enough to your present time that things won't be too different…and they had an excellent run of The Lion King that year. Wouldn't mind swinging by Broadway, would you?"
"Of course not!" Martha laughed.
"Well then, hang on!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the TARDIS gave a shuddering lurch around them. After nine weeks and multiple instances where she'd banged her head on something, Martha had gotten the hang of it. With the railing out of reach, she braced herself for impact with the grating, bending her knees and throwing her hands out in front to catch herself. It worked and she was spared a concussion. She didn't even bother to rise knowing damn well she'd probably just get knocked right back down. When the TARDIS landed, she looked up at the Doctor with a frown.
"Well, here we are then!" he said cheerfully.
"You're a menace," she growled. "I'm surprised no one's come to impound the TARDIS and take your license."
"Martha Jones, do you honestly think anyone would be able to impound my ship?" he scoffed.
"Yes," Rose said seriously. "An' then you'd talk their ears off and they'd give her back just to shut you up."
"Oi!" he protested, moving to help Martha up. Rose smiled sweetly at him and bounded over to the doors.
The Doctor grabbed his coat from off a coral strut and followed his companions out the door. Almost immediately after stepping out he was greeted by a blast of cool, salty Atlantic air and Rose Tyler's scowl.
"2130, eh?"
"Yeah, what do—" he looked over her head at the landscape of New York City and the words died in his throat. "Ah. So I must've gotten the flight a bit wrong. Could happen to anyone."
Rose decided to just let it go. At least they'd managed to land in New York City. She could see the Empire State Building in the distance, still under construction for the looks of it. That would make it the 20th century, then. She'd guessed it was before her time from the old-style ships sailing across the water, anyway.
"Martha, Rose, have you met my friend?" the Doctor asked conversationally and pointed upwards. They turned their heads skyward and saw a famous green statue towering above them.
Martha laughed. "Is that—? Oh my God! That's the Statue of Liberty!"
"Gateway to the New World," the Doctor said. "'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.'"
"This is brilliant," she murmured.
"At least we're actually in New York." Rose said cheerfully. "Although, I do think we might stand out a bit." She glanced down at her jeans, trainers, light blue shirt, and gray jacket. Martha was no better in her own jeans, trainers, black tank, and red leather jacket.
"Nah, don't worry. This is New York!" the Doctor crowed. "You could be one of the Catkind and fit in around here. You could be Catkind and not be the strangest thing seen around here, actually."
"Yeah, not when there's a Time Lord prancing about." Martha muttered to Rose.
"I love this city," he went on as they started towards the pier. "So good they named it twice. Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. Now wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam."
"So, obviously we're not in 2130—what year is it?"
"Well," he nodded in the direction of the city. "There's the Empire State, still a work in progress. Looks like they've got a couple more floors to go. Which makes the date somewhere around—"
"1930?" Rose guessed. "That's two hundred years off where were supposed to land. Same difference, right?"
"She's right," Martha said from behind them. She was looking down at a newspaper someone had left on a bench. She walked over to them and held up the paper for them to see. "November 1st, 1930," she read and allowed the Doctor to pull it from her fingers. "That's nearly eighty years ago. It's funny 'cause you see all those old newsreels in black and white like it's so far away, but here we are. It's real. It's now. I'm never going to get used to this, I swear. I don't know how you have, Rose."
"Who says I have?"
Martha laughed. "Right, come on you two. Where to first?"
"Central Park," the Doctor said grimly and showed them the headline.
"'Hooverville Mystery Deepens.'" Rose read aloud.
"What's Hooverville?" Martha asked.
"C'mon," the Doctor said, rolling up the newspaper and stuffing it into his pocket. "Let's go see if we can't catch a ferry across the water."
"Hang on!" Rose said, spinning back around, and dashed into the TARDIS. The Doctor and Martha glanced at each other. The Doctor shrugged. She re-emerged a minute or so later (actually it was two minutes and three-point-two-seven seconds, according to the Doctor. Not that he was counting the seconds he couldn't see her. Not at all) with a pair of brown fuzzy-knit fingerless gloves on her hands and a pair for Martha. "Okay, now we can go."
Getting across the water was the easy part. A boat was leaving in five minutes to Manhattan and a quick flash of the psychic paper was enough to get them on board. After receiving several scandalous looks, Rose and Martha mutually decided to move away from the crowds and the Doctor followed. It was one of those times, as the three of them leaned against the starboard railing, that they were all silent. The Doctor was staring ahead at the city, completely engrossed in his thoughts and Martha was looking back at the Statue of Liberty.
Rose was leaning over the side, watching the water. They were at the mouth of the Hudson, the water from the river fed out into the bay. She'd always heard that the river was as bad as the River Thames so she figured the bay wouldn't look much better. But the water wasn't so bad, not in this time anyway, and she could see little fish swimming around below the surface. And was that someone's hat? She blinked, leaning further to get a better look, but she almost immediately felt a pair of hands on her waist, pulling her firmly back onto the right side of the railing.
"Careful, I don't want to have to fish you out of the river," the Doctor said.
She frowned indignantly. "I wasn't gonna fall. I'm not a little kid, Doctor."
"No, but you're very jeopardy-friendly, and you were halfway over before I pulled you back."
"I thought I saw a hat. I wanted to check." She said and realized that even though she had two feet safely on the boat deck, the Doctor's hands had yet to leave her waist.
"Just be careful, please," he said.
Martha smiled, her lips pressed together, and slowly eased away from them. After nine weeks on board she'd also learned to make a quick and unnoticeable escape whenever one of these moments occurred. Not that it had made a difference yet because unless they were already secretly shagging, then absolutely nothing was going on either side of the doors in the TARDIS. Or in the console room, for that matter.
Yet another thing that made her bang her head against the wall in frustration and she was beginning to wish she was closer to the TARDIS so the two of them could arrange for the Doctor and Rose to get locked in a cupboard for a few hours. The sexual tension was driving her up the walls.
Still, she liked to give them space just in case.
Of course, the Doctor noticed the location of his hands a few seconds later and dropped them quickly, clearing his throat, and turned towards the city. "So, ah, we're heading to Central Park. It's about a two-hour walk from Battery Park where we're docking so we'll be catching a cab."
"We need money for that." Martha reminded him, leaning against the railing. "And this is the '30s. No money movers to be sonic-ed."
The Doctor frowned and dug around through his pockets. "Hang on, I've been in this era of America before. Might have enough somewhere…"
"You've got an entire thrift store in those pockets, don't you?"
He paused his search and pulled a yo-yo and a cassette tape out of his left pocket, arching his eyebrow at her, and then dropped them back in and continued rummaging around. It took most of the rest of the ride across but he had located about twenty dollars worth of bills and change in his pocket by the time they'd docked. Some of it was a bit out-dated, but he said the cabbie wouldn't be likely to notice.
They caught a cab outside of the park—a rickety thing compared to a modern cab, with a red body, black roof, and a very long engine in the front—and the driver agreed to take them up to the park.
"Look a bit too nice, an' you can afford to fair, so you ain't fallen on your ass yet? So you got family up there in the shanty?" the driver asked in a thick New York accent.
"No," the Doctor said. "We're just sightseeing. We're not from around here."
"Well no kiddin'!" the man crowed. "I knew the moment you got in the car! Twenty years I been drivin' cabs! Twenty years! I got an eye for it! I can tell where people come from within the first few seconds! Accent usually helps, but you don't look local, neither. Is that what girls are wearin' in London these days?"
"No," Rose said. "We're just rebels, that's all."
The man guffawed. "Well, alright! I guess it don't matter what people wear right now. Long as it's warm. Most folk ain't got the time or the money to be picky about anything. If you wanna dress like a man then, by all means ladies, g'head."
It took about half an hour to get up to Central Park. After the cabbie pulled up to the sidewalk and put the car in park, he turned in his seat. He seemed to be sizing them up and contemplating something. "You seem like nice folks. Best keep them close to your side, y'hear? I dunno if you heard yet, but people's been goin' missin' from around here lately. Dunno who, what, or why, but it's happenin' and ain't no one in power doin' nothin' about it."
The Doctor smiled and handed him the fare, plus a tip. "We will, and thank you. Good luck."
"You too."
The Doctor got out of the car and held the door open for his companions. They crossed the street and headed into the park. He asked a passing man on a bike if he knew where Hooverville was. They were pointed in the right direction and they set off.
"So, what's Hooverville?" Martha asked.
"Do you know who the current president is?" the Doctor asked.
"No."
"Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the USA, came to power a year ago." he said in what Martha had come to think of as his 'teacher voice.' Because whenever he used it he was either being the universe's best tour guide or lecturing them on some topic. "Up till then New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties, and then…"
"The Wall Street Crash, yeah, when was that, 1929?"
"Yeah. Whole economy wiped out overnight. Thousands of people unemployed. Suddenly the huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So they ended up here in Central Park."
"What? They actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?"
"It's not so odd," Rose said tightly. "You'd be surprised the kind of places people go when they've got nowhere else. Mum used to never let me go play in the park on the estate after sundown because people liked to sleep under the slide."
"But that's horrible!"
"Wouldn't be surprised if several dozen people sleep in Hyde Park every night in our time. I considered it, once."
"Why?" the Doctor asked sharply.
Rose shrugged. "It was just after I'd left Jimmy. Didn't feel like facin' Mum yet. Couldn't, really. I was on my way down there then I changed my mind and decided to sleep at Shareen's for a bit. Figured it'd be safer."
"Rose, you—"
"Leave it. S'over an' done with, Doctor."
The smelled Hooverville before they saw it. The smoke from the fires, food cooking, trash, and poorly washed bodies, all mixed together to form a smell that wasn't unfamiliar to Rose after growing up where she had and travelling the universe. Then they saw the smoke over the treetops and then the first homes of the shantytown came into view. Dozens and dozens of poorly made buildings, some of them—the lucky ones—were made of wood and stone, and the rest were made from sheets of metal, rubber, cardboard, tires, and other materials people had found to work with. Some of them were just tents.
Three long planks held up on two wooden poles with the word "Hooverville" painted in white designated the main entrance. The three travellers felt solemn as they passed beneath it. Garments hung from lines, people gathered around fires in barrels, one man passed them pushing a bike. Some of the "houses" had chairs or tables in front of them, there were a few portable stoves. Rose spotted a small American flag fastened to one of the poles holding up a tent house. There was a signpost ahead of them with wooden slabs pointing every which way with street names and places like 42nd Street and Brooklyn. Maybe someone was trying to be funny. Or maybe they needed something like that to make them feel at least somewhat at home.
People watched them come. Acknowledged their arrival with stares or nods; took in their nice, if unconventional clothes. Some only spared them a passing glance, not recognizing them but figuring they were just three more people out on the streets needing a place.
"Ordinary people," the Doctor explained quietly, toning down his usual tour guide routine in order to avoid offending the people. On top of everything else they didn't need to feel like creatures in the zoo that would be opened in another area of the park soon. "Lost their jobs. Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything."
They passed the tent of a barber, designated by spiraling red and white pipe set on the top of one of the support poles. A man was sitting on a barrel in front getting his hair trimmed. They watched the travelers go past.
"There are places like this all over America. No one's helping them."
Rose huddled her arms close to her chest, feeling out of place. For all the troubles she had growing up, she'd had it good compared to these people. That girl over there in the rocking chair, she looked about twenty, she might've had a mother and a father here or somewhere, but the only roof over her head was a tarp. The only clothes she had were the ones on her back or hanging from the clothesline. Sometimes the power went out on the Estate or the heater was faulty. That girl didn't have any power or a heater. Just that fire and some blankets.
She glanced at Martha who also was looking uncomfortable, her arms folded as well.
"You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go." he told them quietly and they believed him.
"YOU THIEVING LOWLIFE!"
Ahead of them a scuffle was beginning. A black man, the one who'd shouted, knocked a white man to the ground. The black man yelled angrily at him about waiting for bread, swiping at him and kicking while two other men tried to hold him back. The white man got to his feet, claiming innocence, and the black man slugged him. From what she could hear, it seemed to Rose that they were fighting over a loaf of bread. That's how desperate they were.
A middle-aged black man wearing a beige captain's coat emerged from a green tent, took in the ruckus before him, and strode towards them with purpose, placing a brown hat on top of his head. "Cut that out!" he shouted. "CUT IT OUT!" he bellowed when they continued to fight. He grabbed both the fighting men and shoved them apart. "Right now!"
"He stole my bread!" the younger man shouted, pointing accusingly.
"That's enough!" the older man snapped then turned to the white man. "Did you take it?"
"I don't know what happened he just went crazy!" the white man answered. The younger black man lunged at him and the older one had to force them apart again. He turned to the white man once more. "Now, think real careful before you lie to me."
"I'm starving, Solomon." the white man said after a moment.
The man, Solomon, held out his hand expectantly and the white man hesitated for a moment, then lifted the side of his coat and pulled out a single loaf of bread. The crowd that had gathered groaned and grumbled at the sight. "We're all starvin'. We all got family somewhere." Solomon said and he broke the bread in half, handing one to each of them. "No stealing and no fighting. You know the rules."
He turned to address the crowd standing around him. "Thirteen years ago I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together! No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got."
He looked between the two of them pointedly and they walked their separate ways. The crowd of people went on about their business now that the brief entertainment was over and the Doctor quietly told Martha and Rose to follow him.
"I suppose that makes you the boss around here," the Doctor said.
Solomon looked at them as he walked towards a fire pit. "And, uh, who might you be?"
"He's the Doctor. She's Rose. I'm Martha."
"A Doctor? Ha. Well…we got stockbrokers—" he nodded to a man sleeping in a chair, "—we've got a lawyer—" a man rubbing his hands as he walked towards a fire barrel "—but you're the first doctor. Neighbourhood gets classier by the day." He held out his hands to warm them over the fire.
"How many people live here?" Martha asked after a moment.
"Any one time, hundreds. No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville: we're a truly equal society. Black, white—all the same. All starving." he chuckled once. "So you're welcome, all of you. But tell me, Doctor you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me."
They followed Solomon around a tent and looked over the treetops at the empire state building. "That there is going to be tallest building in the world. How come they can do that and we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?"
The Doctor had no answer, not one that would satisfy him anyway.
"Because it's easier," Rose said. "Because building somethin' like that is easier than coming up with a solution. Because it puts eyes on your city—but high above everythin'. Everyone's lookin' at how beautiful it is up there so they don't see how awful it is down here. An' the rich people, the politicians, they think that since they're given some men jobs workin' that it's enough. Since some got work all must be happy. That's what I think, anyway."
Solomon turned all the way and considered her with something close to a smile on his face. "You're a smart young lady. I think you might be right. Now answer me this: if that's the answer, then why doesn't it make anything better?"
"B-Because…" She had to think about it but in the end all she could come up with was: "Because nothin' can. Not yet."
Solomon nodded but she couldn't tell whether or not he was satisfied with her answer. He simply turned and strode back over to his tent.
"That was good," the Doctor told her quietly. "Some people will spend the whole Depression asking themselves those questions and in the end they'll be no more satisfied with their answers than with yours."
"We should give them our money." Martha said. "You've got ten dollars left, at least. We can walk back to Battery Park, it won't kill us."
"And who would we give it to? Hmm?" Those hungry men? Solomon? That woman over there with children? Or that man with no leg? Who do you think deserves it more, Martha?"
"W-we could divide it up…"
"And we'd probably cause a fuss. People would want to know why they didn't get any. It won't save them. Won't even last long enough to make a difference. You've seen worse than this before, Martha."
"I know but…but they…I mean they're…"
"Human?" the Doctor looked down at her. "So because they're human it makes their suffering worse? It doesn't. I know you feel extra sympathy towards them because they're your species, but in the end the universe is always going to be full of people hungry and homeless, and their species doesn't make their suffering any lesser or greater than the others suffering. If you've been with us this long already and haven't figured it out yet that one's species alone doesn't determine their importance, then why should I let you stay?"
Martha looked away, humbled from his chastisement, and rubbed her arms against the chill from both the ice in his voice and the cold wind.
The Doctor strode towards Solomon, pulling the newspaper out of his pocket. "So…" he said to get his attention. Solomon turned. "Men gone missing—is this true?"
Solomon's eyes flicked down to the newspaper and he took it from the Doctor's hands. "It's true, alright." He motioned with his head for them to follow him into his tent.
The Doctor didn't go beyond the doorway though and Rose and Martha had to peer in through the open flap. It was oddly quaint, with a table, two chairs, a bed, a drawer, a stove, and lanterns hanging from the poles or resting on the table. It was warm, too.
"But what does missing mean? Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register."
Solomon sat down in the chair, removing his hat. "Come on in," he invited.
The Doctor sat down in the chair next to Solomon, resting his chin in his hand. Rose and Martha perched on the drawer, right near the delicious warmth from the stove.
"This is different," Solomon said.
Rose frowned. "What do you mean 'different'? Missin's missin', isn't it?"
"Not in this case. Something's taking them. At night. We hear something. Someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone. Like they vanish into thin air."
"And you're sure someone's taking them?" the Doctor asked.
"Doctor, when you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got." Solomon said as if to a child. "Knife, blanket—you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning."
"Have you been to the police?" Martha inquired.
"Yeah, we tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal."
"So," the Doctor said, rubbing his ear thoughtfully, "the question is, who's taking them and what for?"
"Solomon!" a voice called from outside the tent. A young boy, about sixteen with a cap on his head and a southern accent, burst into the tent. "Solomon! Mr. Diagoras is here."
Solomon's eyes widened. He grabbed his hat and headed out with the three time travelers following close behind.
A man in a black, red-trimmed coat that probably cost enough to feed the entirety of Hooverville for at least a day, stood on a crate with two tough-looking guys in black pinstripe suits—bodyguards—and was speaking to the crowd gathering.
"I need men, volunteers. I've got a little work for you, and you sure look like you could use the money."
"Yeah, what is the money!" the southern boy called out.
"A dollar a day."
People scoffed and laughed mockingly. Even for the times, a dollar was ridiculous.
"What's the work?" Solomon asked and people seemed to relax when he brought attention to himself. Even if he wasn't officially in charge, Solomon had power amongst the people. They looked up to him, respected him. Solomon is here. Solomon will look out for us.
"A little trip down the sewers." Diagoras said and people laughed, scoffed, and shook their heads. "Got a tunnel that collapsed needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?"
"Uh-uh." The southern boy shook his head. He seemed to speak for all of them.
"A dollar a day is a slave wage." Solomon objected loudly. People chimed in their agreement. "Men don't always come back up, do they?"
"Accidents happen," Diagoras dismissed.
"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked. "What sort of 'accidents'?"
"You don't need the work? That's fine. Anybody else?"
The Doctor raised his hand.
"Enough with the questions!"
"Oh, no, no, no, no. I'm volunteering. I'll go."
Knowing full well she couldn't stay in Hooverville while the Doctor went gallivanting around down in the sewers, Martha lifted her hand. "I'll kill you for this."
"I'll help her," Rose added with her hand in the air as well.
The Doctor chuckled.
"Anybody else?" Diagoras called. Solomon and the southern boy raised their hands as well.
Frank ^-^ *headpat*
Do you guys even realize how much fun I'm having writing this story?! It's one of the highlights of my life right now. Leave me a review on the way out! Oh, and to my guest reviewers, I can't reply to your questions unless you have an account!