The Doctor needed to clear his head. A distress call was just the thing. He stood at the TARDIS console, inputting the coordinates to arrive just in time to help planet Loam.
He waited for Martha. First he paced about the console room for what felt like an eternity. He tried to think of anything other than that woman. Then he checked all of the TARDIS database's information on Loam. Martha finally joined him in the console room.
"Ready to go, Martha?"
"Sure. Just give me a minute. I'm leaving a note for Angel in case she comes looking for us." The Doctor kept his face neutral while waiting for his companion. When she finished, he initiated their departure on the console.
Angel wasn't sure how long she slept, but she was coaxed out of bed by her stomach and bladder. She ate breakfast and changed in her usual manner, but she had too many thoughts floating around her head.
She thought about Professor Lazarus and all the trouble a simple trip to Earth was like for the Doctor. Would she be able to survive more trips? Would Martha? And Francine was so concerned about her that she listened to the information that a questionable fellow fed her. Why does Martha stick around? Oh right, they said she must have a crush on him.
Hours passed and the fear of losing Martha kept eating away at her. She managed to read an entire book on psychically controlled technology from TARDIS Library. She went off to find Martha and start a film in the Theatre Room. Instead, she found Martha's note on the console.
—Angel
Hope you are ok after all of that. You seemed pretty exhausted, just letting you be. The Doctor is taking me to save a planet! See you later. Don't wait up!
—Martha
The thought occurred to Angel that the Doctor was avoiding her out of embarrassment. But he was so old, she thought that was ridiculous.
As soon as Martha entered through the doors of the TARDIS, she was rushing off to find Angel. The first place she checked was the Library. Not there. Then the Theater Room, of course. She found Angel snuggled up on the sofa watching GoldenEye.
"Angel"
"Martha!" Angel hopped up and squeezed Martha."How'd it go? Did you save the planet?"
"All but one," she said in a low tone. Angel gave her another squeeze and they sat down. "Are you watching James Bond?"
"Yeah, I was curious about your comment. I get it now, although I'm not sure how much like James Bond he looked," Angel said with a low chuckle. She paused, deciding if she should say anything about Martha's feelings. She decided it wasn't really her business until Martha decided to mention her feelings first.
The two get cozy and watch the rest of Pierce Brosnan's James bond duke it out with his foil Alec Trevelyan. The credits rolled and the two women bid goodnight to one another.
Angel had gone to the console in the morning, she would have found another note from Martha about leaving again. Angel's mood darkened. This is just childish! Why is he avoiding me so much! He's taking her with him too! She felt the familiar feelings of abandonment made fresh. It stung deep in her heart. She wanted to curl up in the fetal position and feel sorry for herself, but she refused to give into that feeling once again. She went on autopilot. She climbed down to her forest floor and ran.
Angel's red-gold curls whipped around her shoulders as she weaved between the trees and hurtled over large rocks and fallen logs. The exercise did wonders for her mood and mind. She stopped to rest on the big flat rock placed just beside her babbling brook. She thought about Martha going on all these dangerous outings with the Doctor, and it worried her. He takes her and I'm alone. She is practically defenseless and still she goes. So what if I go with them? I can protect them.
She remembered Lazarus as a monster and felt the familiar rush of fear coming on. Angel just felt a rush of adrenaline compelling her to run again. Maybe if I have more stamina, I won't feel so afraid. She took a familiar path she used to explore as a child and got back to running.
Martha clutched onto a guy she just met named Riley. They were jetting off into the sun waiting to die. She thought about her mum and dad. Her brother and sister. They would never see her again, and it would be like she just disappeared. They would never know what happened to her or that she died. And the Doctor. She last saw yelling something to her. But she had no idea what. Then she thought of her friend, Angel, alone on the TARDIS. She might never forgive the Doctor. The thought of her being angry with the Doctor was actually worrying to her, but it didn't last long. The escape pod jerked as it's trajectory switched back to the hatch of the ship!
The Doctor was in absolute agony whilst fighting for control. The sun was possessing his body, trying to anyway. Not if he had anything to do about it. Nearly being frozen to death in the cryo-chamber wasn't enough. The sun had someone else's body switch off power to the med bay. He sent Martha and the ship's captain off to take care of it. He was sorry for dragging Martha into this death trap. And he was sorry for leaving Angel on the TARDIS without any idea where they were or directives on what to do if he didn't make it back. His will gave in and all he could think was what the sun thought. BURN WITH ME.
Angel heard the familar sounds of her door opening and the shutting. She ran to a rope dangling down from the landing at the door, and climbed as quickly as she could. She gribbed the floor of the landing with her arms. Martha was startled, not expecting Angel to appear before her in such a sudden and odd manner.
Despite her oddity, Martha was very relieved to finally see Angel again. She helped the woman up to standing and hugged her in relief. Even with her damper on, Angel could tell that something was up with Martha.
"Want to talk about it?" She offered.
"Oh, God, Angel. I nearly just died. The Doctor nearly just died."
"Well that's not new, but your reaction is. So what was different this time?"
"Cut it pretty close this time. I was on my way out when the Doctor put himself at risk to remagnetize the pod back to the ship. I was a goner! And then the sun possessed him and he had to freeze himself nearly to death to keep control. But the med bay lost power. And the sun took control of him. Had to dump all the fuel to get him back. They mined the sun for fuel. The Doctor said it was like scooping out its heart."
Angel gave Martha a big squeeze when she found out just how close she came to losing her closest friend —of two— again. But the idea of losing the Doctor felt something more like losing hope.
"I've gotta go talk to him," Angel said.
"Go easy on him. What he just went through was… excruciating. Torturous, even," Martha replied before heading to her room. Angel walked towards the console room to talk with the Doctor alone.
In the console room, the Doctor was fiddling with random knobs and levers. He wondered how he could be around Angel more and keep his head cool.
"Maybe next time you face a psychic Sun, you could use a little psychic backup?"
Speak of the devil and he shall appear. He turned his head and looked at the entrance to the corridor from over his shoulder. There she stood, face red and sweaty, and her curly red-gold hair looked wind-blown.
"Been running?" He intended to keep the conversation light.
"Working on my stamina." She crossed her arms and stood in front of him. She paused, but decided to get straight to the hard part. "You've been avoiding me," she said with a sing-song inflection. The teasing had a faint touch of warning.
He halted whatever he was doing. His body stiffened. He felt a rush of warmth return. Stop. There can be nothing between us. She will die and leave you all alone. An empty shell.
Angel observed him lost in his thoughts and decided to have mercy on him. "If it was what I said, I'm sorry. I won't tease you again. Just stop icing me out." She waited for the Doctor's answer.
"Deal."
"Good. I've only got the two of you. If I lose one, I'm down 50% of my social circle," she joked. His eyes softened.
"You don't deserve to be so alone. Why are you so alone, anyway?"
"My father said I needed to be trained and kept safe. He said the TARDIS was the best place for me."
"Why isn't he here though? You seem well adjusted without him?" He wanted to get more information from her, she seemed more open in the current conversation.
"Oh, I only see him occasionally. He checks up on me. We do some psychic training. I ask him if I can leave and he tells me I won't be safe." She sighed heavily. "Now I'm thinking he's right. But I have the TARDIS to care for me." She motioned to the walls around them. "She might as well be my mother, she's the closest thing I have to one," she said with a shrug.
"But you realize that neither the Master nor the TARDIS are your parents? You do have a real mother and father out there somewhere. I know the Master like the back of my hand, you are significant but he most likely stole you. Then he manipulated you into trusting him implicitly, I'm not sure what for yet, but I have a few guesses."
Angel stiffened at his accusations. She waited until her shock subsided and she could answer rationally. "They're all I have. I can't rewrite my past without someone to replace them. I'd rather live with my memories as they are, than have nobody at all."
Angel's words resonated with him in a way. "I understand. My last companion, Rose, I lost her. I loved her even, but she's gone now. And I'm not ready to let go either." He paused for a moment, then decided to switch the conversation to the task at hand. "I assume Martha told you what happened?"
"Yeah, a brief summary," she replied with a nod.
His posture relaxed. "Well, as you may have realized, you were dangerously close to being stranded there for the rest of your life waiting for us to come back. Now, if this were to ever happen again, where I don't come back after a day or two, DON'T come save me. Initiate the Vastra protol with the TARDIS. She will send you to 1880s or 1890s London. I promise to stop by often to check if you're waiting for me there. Then, I will tell you where to return to me with the TARDIS."
"What's a Vastra?" The Doctor held back a smile from her over dramatic face of confusion. Her eyebrow arched and the left side of her face scrunched together.
"SHE is a Silurian woman. Silurians are a pre-human earth society, they look sort of like lizard people." He pulled up a photo of a lizard-person's face.
Martha soon returned refreshed after her bath. "Where are we off to now?"
"Earth, 21st century. Later than your time though. Angel, we should be back in 48 hours max," the Doctor informed. He adjusted his suit jacket as he stepped out of the TARDIS. Martha followed after.
"Stay safe you two," Angel said her goodbyes to her favorite people, Martha and the Doctor.
While she waited for their return, she went about her usual routine, peppering in some occasional running. While on a run, she thought about her conversation with the Doctor. An idea came to her, they could do some psychic training with the Doctor. She wanted to stop relying so much on her stupid circlet.