Martha had been pleased to discover certain details about a Time Lord's birth.
Alright: She would have been pleased if it wasn't particular her Time Lord who was going to give birth soon.
Though, she had to admit, it was quite fascinating.
The Doctor had never left out an opportunity to rub in that he was a superior life form; and Martha never would have dared to doubt the word of someone who was the last of their kind.
But as she watched the restless Doctor trotting through Torchwood, searching, hiding, never sitting still, always going and going, running and running around...
Time Lords weren't like humans.
And they weren't like animals, either.
They were animals.
But maybe, and that was what Martha concluded, maybe that was what made Time Lords superior life forms.
Animals were neither just nor cruel; they were solely animals. They wouldn't do things because of reasons but of their own accord due to their instincts.
The Doctor was neither just nor cruel.
He was only the Doctor.
"Doctor?" asked Martha uneasy after she could have sworn that a skinny shadow had appeared and disappeared behind her in the blink of an eye.
She turned around to find no one behind her.
Martha sighed and arose from her seat, putting aside the warm cup of tea she had tried to enjoy.
"Can I help you?"
Martha wasn't actually sure if it had been the Doctor who was rummaging through the rooms. It had only been a wild guess, due to the fact that most of Torchwood's member had tried to keep out of his way or ignore him.
And Martha herself knew that it wasn't easy dealing with the Doctor when something highly valued and precious had been taken from him...
"Doctor?"
Out of sheer foolishness Martha found herself looking behind a stack of boxes.
No one insight; well, she could have guessed. Or to be more precisely; she should have guessed.
Due to the strange sounds swirling irregularly through the air Martha found herself hoping that there wasn't another alien on the run that had managed escaped the basement and Jack hadn't found the courage to tell her about it.
She shifted nervously as she peered through an open door.
"Doctor?"
There was a cracking noise behind her, which probably indicated that something was trying to screw off her head, or something similar Martha would have expected.
She turned around with both her hands in the air and her eyes closed.
"Please don't...!" she whispered in a frightened tone.
"You know that I'm against guns. Guns kill."
Martha opened her eyes and found a calm Doctor sitting on the same spot where she had been resting till now.
"Alright; Guns kill everyone except for Jack."
He brought a cup to his lips slurped noisily.
Martha frowned.
"That's my tea you're drinking, isn't it?"
"Was" the Doctor corrected and showed her the empty cup "Do you have some more?"
"Doctor you had me really worried" stated Martha as unmoved as she could; which was in fact rather emotional.
The Doctor sighed. He stared at the empty cup and held it against the light.
Martha risked a quick glance at the Doctor's bulged abdomen.
Alright; his extremely bulged abdomen.
"As if I'm about to pop" mumbled the Doctor unmoved and added a plopping sound to reinforce his statement.
Martha stared at the Doctor abashed. The Doctor gave her a broad smile.
"Oh, come on, you know that I can sense what you're thinking."
"Yes, but there's a reason why I'm not saying it" explained Martha.
"Because you don't want to hurt me" replied the Doctor and gave her an innocent look.
"Because I don't want anyone to hurt you, including you!" snapped Martha.
The Doctor sighed.
"I just thought I'd pop by and take the opportunity to drink your tea..." Martha rolled her eyes at the plopping sound again; the Doctor chuckled quietly "...and I'll be off again. I won't be bothering you any longer..."
As the Doctor arose he felt a concerned hand pushing him back into place.
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere Doctor. You're staying!" bellowed Martha and folded her arms as an unbelieving Doctor stared her in the eye. "And don't give me that look. You can't just walk into my office, drink my tea and then disappear without answering my questions."
The Doctor stared at her meekly.
"And that won't work, either. So sit back, or up, or do whatever you need to get comfortable" Martha shut the door and leaned her back against it.
"You're staying."
The Doctor sighed again.
"Fine" he mumbled, only to be nearly interrupted by a huffish "Fine!" from Martha.
The Doctor eyed her up cautiously.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" he asked angrily.
Martha owed him an explanation.
The Doctor followed Martha's example and folded his arms likewise.
"I should have known. I really should have seen that coming" he mumbled half to himself "A Time Lord-tea-trap. I really should watch out for those."
"Shut up" grumbled Martha.
The Doctor searched her gaze.
He wouldn't want to know what she was going t question him about; he didn't even dare thinking about it.
Therefore he was rather surprised when Martha asked:
"What is it with you lately? Running around, hiding from everybody's sight, disappearing and reappearing unsuspected, not wanting to answer any questions..."
"No one's asked me questions" explained the Doctor.
"Not even Jack?" asked Martha and gave him a disbelieving glare.
"I must admit that you look rather cute when you do that" replied the Doctor.
"Sarcasm does not become you" answered Martha and opened her almond shaped ebony eyes a bit more.
"I mean it!" insisted the Doctor.
"And cuteness does not become you, either" explained Martha.
She pulled a chair beside the Doctor.
"Jack didn't say a word" stated the Doctor coldly.
"Not to you, no, I can imagine" added Martha.
Oppressive silence spread through the room as Martha and the Doctor were both lost in thoughts; each of them more terrifying and depressing.
"This is all wrong" mumbled Martha.
"He never should have seen me like this" added the Doctor in a low voice.
"Jack never should have locked up the Tardis and hid it in subbasement two" Martha went on.
"And you never should have told me that" replied the Doctor whilst still staring into space.
"There's nothing wrong with telling you, anyway" mumbled Martha "I know that you won't be going. You won't leave."
"And what makes you think so?" asked the Doctor and looked at the door.
"Because you would have left as soon as possible; I know that you've already discovered the Tardis in the subbasement; you've already given her those strange and somewhat warm hearted-strokes..."
"Stop it" snapped the Doctor "What did you say that for?"
"What?" replied Martha accusatorily "As if it was a secret! You, your Tardis and your strange relationship."
The Doctor sighed.
Martha was close to laying an arm around his shoulders. But she stuffed her over-protective-domestic-approach-gut reactions back into the deepest corners of her mind.
She tried to convince herself that the Doctor wasn't a very cuddly person. At least not when she was around...
"It's not like that, Martha, and you know it" the Doctor sighed beside her and grasped her hands; his cold fingers made Martha flinch.
"It's just... I want to spare you the disgust of feeling me... my bulged body..." The Doctor obviously bit back some vicious remarks Martha probably wouldn't have gotten anyway because they were Gallifreyan.
"Doctor, you need help" stated Martha firmly and searched his gaze; the Doctor's eyes showed unlimited deepness as they mirrored the coldness of his heart.
"All I need is a place to hide. To hide myself from any form of invasion, observation or surveillance. I don't need help, Martha" the Doctor turned towards her and stared her in the eye, the warmth of his hazel eyes disappearing into the endless depths of an ocean of despair:
"I need to be a alone. That's all I want."
Martha nodded her assent involuntarily. The Doctor had something about him that made it hard to disagree with him; maybe it was the knowledge he radiated; or his convictions which he said quite openly; or it was simply his ability to screw with other people's minds.
Martha didn't care what it was.
But she didn't like nodding like a puppet.
"I still think you need help" explained Martha.
"Your help" corrected the Doctor.
Martha nodded again, but this time of her own free will.
"What do you want from me?" asked Martha staidly "Do you want me to check..."
"I need your help with finding a place where I can be alone" interrupted the Doctor "that's all."
Martha eyed him up suspiciously.
"You think I might now a hiding place somewhere around here because I've spent too much time in Torchwood lately" concluded Martha "Though you're missing the opportunity to ask a physician for help or assistance..."
"I don't need your assistance" snapped the Doctor and silence Martha in an instant "You don't even know what you're talking about! You can't do a thing. You don't understand a thing. You think just because you know what to give a primitive human being to make it shut up for quite a while or which side is the sticky one of a plaster you can deal with superior life forms whose digestive system is more complex than an average human's brain! You don't know a thing, Martha Jones! And if you want to be of any use you keep your mouth shut!"
Martha arose beside the Doctor. Her facial expression hadn't changed; she didn't even want the Doctor to notice her consternation.
"Fine" hissed Martha and made a run for the door as she felt that she was no longer able to keep the tears from welling up in her eyes.
"That's right: Run and be as useless as always!" added the Doctor after Martha had slammed the door behind her.
"Alright!" was her hurt reply that faded into nowhere.
The Doctor slumped in his chair and sighed. He gave the teacup he'd placed on the floor before him a kick and listened to the tinkling sounds as the cup shifted strangle, moving as if it would bounce and roll at the same time.
The Doctor tried to convince himself that he hadn't been too harsh on Martha. He tried to believe in his own lies.
He tried not to hear Martha's distant cries or the hurtful names and designations she had in store for him.
He just gritted his teeth; metaphorically as well as literally; telling himself the same thing over and over again.
One more day. Just one more day... And then he'd put an end to it all.
Author's Note: Thanks everyone for following/favouriting! Reviews are highly appreciated, too!