kissmekate (
kissmekate) wrote2008-09-14 02:05 pm
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Entry tags:
Fic: Faded Memories (Martha-centric, oneshot)
Title: Faded Memories
Characters/Pairings: Martha, Rose, Ten
Genre: Drama, Angst (sort of)
Rating: PG
Spoiler Alert: None.
Summary: Rose Tyler lived. And yet, Martha Jones feels that there's something missing.
Notes: 3676 words. I loved writing Martha, so much. I should definitely do it more often. Comments = love.
Martha Jones wakes up in the morning, same as ever. Her thick hair is slightly messy, so she decides that after she brushes her teeth she should take care of that. She usually isn't one for getting dressed up or anything, but she likes to do things with her hair. That's why she has nearly five different bottles of hair gel on her table.
And as she swings her legs over the side of her bed, almost getting her foot caught in her laptop cable, she has a feeling. The feeling is strange, almost like nothing she's ever felt before. She feels like something great and terrifying is supposed to happen to her today. It makes her feel on edge ever so slightly, but she decides to ignore it. It's probably just anxiety--she has to study for her exams, and it's loads of work.
It takes her a while to get ready and as she does so she remembers that Leo's birthday party is tonight. She groans--that's going to be fun. Her mum, sister, brother, dad, and dad's bimbo girlfriend all in the same room. What a party.
While she's on the tube going to the hospital the feeling of anticipation grows. It's supposed to happen soon.
She's walking along the street when something strikes her suddenly. She forgot something, didn't she? She frantically looks through her bag, wondering if she brought her mobile with her. She has, and it's vibrating, nonetheless. So what is missing? She looks up at the people around her. Is she supposed to talk to someone?
She answers her mobile. “Yeah?”
“Oh, Martha…you've got to call dad and tell him he can't bring his girlfriend.”
“Now, Ms…” the doctor picks up the form from the side of the bed. Martha looks at the girl lying on the bed in a hospital gown. Her hair is bleached blonde and she's wearing a thick layer of mascara. She smiles, and nothing seems to be wrong with her. “Rose Tyler,” the doctor reads, and puts down the clipboard. “You say you have unusual stomach cramps?”
“What is going on?!” Martha yells to her colleague as the strange rhino-headed creatures storm through the hallways of the hospital. Apparently they're checking to see if everyone is human. Oh, and it seems that they're on the moon. It doesn't freak Martha out as much as it does everyone else, but she'd still rather be on Earth.
Her colleague doesn't hear her and keeps running down the hall. Martha stands there, rolling her eyes. This is completely ridiculous.
Someone bumps into her and she looks up. “I'm sorry,” the same blonde girl from before says quickly in a cockney accent.
“Wait, what's going on?” Martha asks. She has a feeling this girl will know.
“I can't really tell you,” the girl says, looking nervous. “But it will be fine,” she assures her, and runs off.
Martha shakes her head. Some help that was.
The rhinos are getting closer and she decides that she might as well comply. She doesn't want to get evaporated like that guy did earlier.
As she awaits her fate, she sees a man run toward her. He's tall and is wearing pinstripe blue suit. And for some reason, he isn't wearing any shoes.
“Oh, no,” he says as he spots the rhinos. “Oh, no, no, no…”
“Just let them scan you,” Martha tells him. He looks at her like she's crazy.
“Can't. Alien,” he says, and Martha's eyes widen. This guy must be from the psychiatric ward. He continues, “And it's going to be very bad when they find me. Oh!” he exclaims. “Idea!”
Martha shakes her head, but responds. “Yeah?”
“Sorry about this,” he says, and then kisses her.
She closes her eyes, not quite understanding that he's kissing her. She just goes with it, and it feels so right. Her heart is pounding faster and she can feel herself blushing.
He breaks the kiss and she's still standing there, her head tilted up. He smiles. “Thanks,” he says and runs off.
Her hand makes its way up to her lips and she gently touches them. They're tingling, and she doesn't remember a kiss that made her feel that way since…ever.
She also doesn't notice that the rhinos are getting closer. When they reach her, one of them holds up a cylindrical object and scans her.
“Alien genetic material detected,” the rhino grunts, and Martha raises her eyebrows. So the man was telling the truth? “Full scan required.”
The night after the incident with the hospital, Martha is at Leo's party. All goes badly, as expected, and everyone storms out. Martha is the last to leave.
She stands outside the door, and looks to the corner. She feels like someone was there, but when she looks she sees no one. Quickly she looks back to her frantic family, smiles, and runs after them.
Tish's new boyfriend is a real artsy type, so he invites Tish and Martha to a student performance of Love's Labours Lost that he's in. Tish seems really excited, but Martha knows she's never liked Shakespeare.
Martha herself is excited to go. Shakespeare, she thinks. She hasn't really ever had the time to go see a performance. In school she studied some of his plays--Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet. But Love's Labours Lost seemed like it was going to be quite entertaining.
She picks up Tish at seven, but Tish is still getting ready. Martha rolls her eyes--she simply wore a black tank and a pair of jeans she got from H&M, dabbed a bit of blue eyeshadow on, styled her hair and went out. But Tish bought a special dress for this night and everything. So she and Tish arrive late at the performance.
After the play, Martha goes up to Tish's boyfriend. “What about Love's Labours Won?” she asks.
“What?” he says, and she repeats the question.
“The sequel,” she adds on at the end. “The sequel to Love's Labours Lost. I've heard about it, but I can't quite remember…”
“Oh,” he says. “That's one of Shakespeare's missing plays. It's written down in lists of his plays but no one's ever found a copy.”
Martha nods her head. “I think I knew that.” She has no idea how. “What happened to it?”
“No one knows.”
“Oh.”
Martha drops the subject, but she desperately wants to know what the story is behind the missing play. She has a feeling that it's something extraordinary.
She goes home that night intending to read some Shakespeare. She can't find any copies in her apartment though, and simply picks up Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Tish has set Martha up with a guy she knows. Martha hates blind dates, but goes along with it anyway. There have been remarks about Martha's lack of a love life from her friends, and Martha has decided to do something about it. She just wishes it wasn't through a blind date with one of her sister's friends.
She's gotten ready and is waiting for him to pick her up. The buzzer rings, and she goes down to the door. He's standing there, wearing this awful blue pinstripe suit and his hair is a total mess. This was the guy that Tish set her up with?
But to tell the truth, she kind of likes the suit he's wearing and his messy hair. It reminds her of the man that kissed her the day the hospital went to the moon. When she thinks about him, her heartbeat gets faster. So when they go into the restaurant she doesn't feel the least embarrassed to be with this oddly dressed man.
The conversation starts up after they get their drinks. “I read that the sun is going to go out in five billion years. What do you think is going to happen to the human race?” he asks.
“I don't know,” Martha says awkwardly. She doesn't particularly want to talk about the extermination of the human race on a date.
“I think that we'll all be dead,” he says, and Martha groans inwardly. She so wants to kill Tish.
But she replies instead. “I don't know,” she says. “I think that we'll have moved on and be living in cities like we always have. New New York,” she says, and is surprised because the name came out of nowhere.
He laughs. “New New York?” he repeats. “That's ridiculous.”
It is. But somehow, it feels right.
“Oh my God,” Martha exclaims. “We really are in New York!”
Tish smiles. “I know, this is awesome.”
Martha looks around. “It's a lot bigger than I thought it would be. I mean, I knew it was big but it's really big.”
“So let's start!” Tish says.
“Start what?”
Tish grins. “Shopping!”
Martha rolls her eyes, but goes along with Tish. They walk along Fifth Avenue until Martha says, “Let's go to Central Park.”
“What?” Tish asks. “That came out of nowhere.”
Martha shrugs. “I know, but I kind of want to see it. I read about something...Hooverville, I think it was there, a while ago and I wanted to see where it was.”
Tish raises an eyebrow as they pass a giant version of The Gap. “You want to go to the park,” she repeats, and Martha shrugs again.
“I guess.”
Tish rolls her eyes. “If you want to go sightseeing, why don't we just go to the Empire State Building?” she asks. “I heard that the view is beautiful from the top.”
“Fine,” Martha says, and they do.
They stand in line for what seems like forever, but Tish was right--once they get to the top, Martha gasps. She doesn't think she's ever seen anything so spectacular.
She looks up to the spire, and notices a few pieces of weird metal toward the top. Semi-spheres lodged on gold plating, right near the top. Quite strange.
They go to Central Square and pass a certain theater. Martha stops outside of it and Tish walks for a little before noticing that her sister is no longer beside her. “What is it?” she asks.
“I've been here before…” Martha trails off.
“What?” Tish asks, walking back to where Martha is standing. “No you haven't.”
“But I remember it…”
Tish shrugs. “You must have seen it in one of those old movies.”
Martha looks back at the theater, and then turns away. “Yeah, I guess.”
They wander around and then decide go to see a movie. A chick flick, because Tish absolutely loves those. Martha doesn't mind them either.
When the movie ends, they exit the theater. “There's someone for everyone,” Martha comments and the two sisters make their way back to the hotel.
“I'm not just a passenger. This is my car, after all,” Martha says. “Or well, it should be.”
Tish rolls her eyes. “Just shut up, we're late and I'm head of PR.”
“Your fault.”
“Shut up,” Tish insists.
Martha rolls her eyes. “Who is this Lazarus guy anyway?” she asks. “He says that it's gonna change what it means to be human.”
“Yeah,” Tish says. “He's kind of weird, but it's a good job.”
It turns out that the whole event is completely insane and not just weird, but Martha finds it vaguely entertaining. Incredibly frightening, but entertaining nonetheless. And she swears she's seen two of those waiters somewhere before. It's all very, very strange.
They manage to escape outside from the terrifying, mutated, alien creature. Martha and Tish are panting while they help hold concussed Leo up.
Martha swallows. “I have to go back. I have to help.”
“What?” Tish and her mum say.
“I just have to,” Martha insists.
“No way,” her mother states.
“You can't,” Tish tells her. “You'll be killed. Please, just stay with us,” she begs.
Martha feels that she should go back inside, but nods in agreement. It's more important to stay with her family.
But as they drive home, panic stricken and shocked, she feels that she's turning her back on someone very important. Like she should be doing something to help.
She sighs. She's been feeling that way a lot lately. Like something is missing.
Maybe something is.
“Who had more hit singles, Elvis or The Beatles?” Martha asks her mother. Her mother raises her eyebrows, shocked by the out of the blue question.
“Since when did you care?” her mother replies. Martha shrugs.
“I've just been wondering.”
“And what are happy primes?”
“What is this, twenty-one questions?”
“More like forty-two,” Martha answers. She's just had all these random questions stored up inside her, and now that she and her mother are sitting at the table she's decided to let them all out.
“Well, let me as you something,” her mother starts, point to an article in the newspaper. “Are you going to vote for Harold Saxon?”
Martha nods. “Definitely.”
“I've seen that watch before,” Martha says, pointing at a watch in the jewelry store. Tish has dragged her there, looking for a new necklace.
Tish looks over to where Martha standing. “I think it looks horrid,” she comments, and goes back to gushing over a diamond heart necklace she can't possibly afford.
Martha tilts her head and keeps staring at the watch. “I think it looks interesting,” she mumbled. It has a strange pattern on it, almost like a geometric design. It's a pocket watch, and it looks very old fashioned.
“Do you want to see it?” the clerk asks, and Martha nods. As the clerk takes the watch out from the case, she explains its history. “It belonged to a Major in the First World War. His estate sold it to us not long ago, but no one seems interested in buying it.”
Martha looks at it closer. “Can I…?” she motions to it, and the clerk nods.
“Go ahead, open it I you want.”
Martha picks it up. It's frighteningly cool in her hand, and she can feel chills go up her spine. She puts her thumb on the latch and presses gently, seeing the watch quickly flip open.
Everything seems to get a bit lighter and she starts to hear things. The Oncoming Storm. The Doctor. Time and Space. Relative Dimension. The Time War.
She abruptly closes it, convincing herself that she was simply imagining things. The clerk looks at her strangely. “Do you want to buy it?” she asks.
And as frightened as Martha is, she desperately wants to say yes. But she puts it down, thanks the clerk, grabs her sister and walks away.
For months she can feel the chills run through her.
“I'm gonna just go inside and grab that movie, okay?” Martha says as she walks toward the store.
Tish rolls her eyes. “Fine, but make it quick, I'm starving.”
Martha ignores her sister and walks through the door. She quickly finds her movie and goes to the front desk.
A pretty blonde girl is standing there, writing intently. Martha doesn't want to interrupt the girl because she seems so focused, but instead she quietly taps on the counter.
“Um, hello,” she says. The girl looks up, eyes wide, and then smiles.
“Hey,” she says and looks at the movie. “Seven pounds.”
Martha digs into her pants for her wallet and takes the money out. As she's handing it over to the girl behind the counter she notices a picture on the table. It's of a stone angel, silently weeping, its hands covering its eyes.
“Hey,” Martha says as the girl gets her change. “I've seen that statue before.”
The girl looks at her, suddenly very grave. “Yeah,” she says. “A weeping angel.”
“Right…” Martha says, taking her change from the girl. “Thanks.”
The girl nods, and goes back to writing.
The End of the Universe is the title of the book. Martha has no idea why she's reading it. It's complete bollocks anyway. Like there would be any human left a trillion years from now, and they certainly wouldn't be looking for a place called “Utopia.”
She puts the book down and rolls over. God, is she tired. She quickly falls asleep.
And, not surprisingly, she dreams of the last of the humans at the end of the universe. She dreams that she's with two men, one who has seen forever and one who can never die. And together, they explore the end of the universe.
It all seems right.
And when she wakes up the next day, it doesn't feel like she's woken up from a dream. It feels like she has just gone to sleep.
It felt so right to be traveling with those men. To be seeing the end of forever and the last of the humans. She shakes her head. She just hasn't had her morning jolt of caffeine yet.
As she gets up and dresses, she turns on the television where she hears the big news.
Harold Saxon has been elected prime minister.
“Let her go!” Martha screams in horror as her sister is killed before her eyes. “Let her go!” She's crying now, scalding tears running down her cheeks. She feels hopeless and alone.
From zero to sixty everything's gone straight to hell. Mr. Saxon announced that they were making first contact with aliens, and then all of a sudden everyone is dying. Martha's family is dying.
The orb floats toward her and Martha swings at it. She knows that hitting it will do nothing, but has no idea what else to do.
It seems that her act of aggression has been taken badly by the orb. It unsheathes its long, sharp spikes and starts to spin.
Martha knows that running away will do no good, so she waits for her death.
It doesn't come. There's a spark of some sort and the orb falls.
Martha looks around. There's a man standing there. “Hey, are you alright?” he asks, and Martha shakes her head. “Of course not. I'm Tom Milligan, by the way,” he says.
“Martha Jones,” she manages to croak out. “How…how did you kill it?”
A quirky smile appears on his face. “Specially calibrated guns. It's brilliant, isn't it?”
“Yeah. Brilliant,” Martha says quietly.
Tom tells her the story that he heard from Rose Tyler. Martha, like everyone else, has heard of Rose Tyler. The girl is a legend, traveling across the world, searching for a way to stop Saxon.
Tom tells her about the plan, and Martha thinks it's ridiculous. Saying “Doctor” over and over again? But then he tells her she should hear it from the source.
He takes her to a crowded building and Martha sees a familiar face sitting on the steps to the second floor. The girl has the same bleached blonde hair, except it's longer now, and she's no longer wearing caked mascara. Her face looks very plain and worn, and Martha understands that she's gone through more than anyone else in the world.
Rose starts her story. “Yes, I've traveled the world. Yes, it was to stop Saxon. But it wasn't to find a way. It was to share with the world what I was told would stop him.
“I shouldn't be the legend. I'm just the messenger. But there's a man, the Doctor, who can save us all. He's done so countless times. And he never stays, never asks for gratitude. He's our protector, our savior, and he can do it again. I believe in him. I love him, more than anyone else.
"He told me how to stop Saxon. When the countdown starts-the countdown to launch the missiles-you have to think his name. He has this way he's tapped into the Arkangel Network, and we can channel all our energy to him. You have to say his name. You have to really believe it. You have to think of all the times he's saved us. You have to believe in him, just like I do.
"You have to believe in the Doctor.”
Martha stands there, intently listening with everyone else. And strangely, she understands every word Rose has said, as if she could have made the speech herself. Martha doesn't need any convincing-she believes in the Doctor.
So when the time comes, the time to say his name and really believe in him, she has no problem doing so. She stands out there with the countless number of other frightened, battered people and shouts his name. Doctor. Doctor.
And as she's doing that, the feeling that she's had for the past year starts to fade. That feeling that she's missing something.
The Doctor is there, and there's nothing to be missed.
Martha Jones wakes up in the morning, same as ever. Her hair, though, is perfectly tame, and that makes her fairly happy. It rarely ever happens to her.
And as she swings her legs over her bed, her foot catching on her laptop cable and sending the laptop crashing to the floor, she has a feeling that something is missing.
She stands up quickly and looks in the mirror. Wasn't she supposed to be doing something?
She scans her mind, and nothing seems to come to her. One memory stands out, though, and she touches her lips.
Quickly she shoves that memory out of her mind. She has to go to work.
She's a doctor now. Whenever she thinks about it, she smiles. She's a doctor now. She's achieved her goal.
Doctor. The word makes lips tingle and her heart pound. “Doctor,” she whispers.
She shakes her head. It means nothing.
But somehow, whenever she says the word she feels like there's something she's forgotten. Like there are these faded memories, carefully tucked away in the back of her mind, of an extraordinary life that never came to pass.
And whenever she thinks about it, her heart constricts. Then she forgets and goes through the motions of her daily life.
But all the while she knows that something, something is missing.
Characters/Pairings: Martha, Rose, Ten
Genre: Drama, Angst (sort of)
Rating: PG
Spoiler Alert: None.
Summary: Rose Tyler lived. And yet, Martha Jones feels that there's something missing.
Notes: 3676 words. I loved writing Martha, so much. I should definitely do it more often. Comments = love.
Martha Jones wakes up in the morning, same as ever. Her thick hair is slightly messy, so she decides that after she brushes her teeth she should take care of that. She usually isn't one for getting dressed up or anything, but she likes to do things with her hair. That's why she has nearly five different bottles of hair gel on her table.
And as she swings her legs over the side of her bed, almost getting her foot caught in her laptop cable, she has a feeling. The feeling is strange, almost like nothing she's ever felt before. She feels like something great and terrifying is supposed to happen to her today. It makes her feel on edge ever so slightly, but she decides to ignore it. It's probably just anxiety--she has to study for her exams, and it's loads of work.
It takes her a while to get ready and as she does so she remembers that Leo's birthday party is tonight. She groans--that's going to be fun. Her mum, sister, brother, dad, and dad's bimbo girlfriend all in the same room. What a party.
While she's on the tube going to the hospital the feeling of anticipation grows. It's supposed to happen soon.
She's walking along the street when something strikes her suddenly. She forgot something, didn't she? She frantically looks through her bag, wondering if she brought her mobile with her. She has, and it's vibrating, nonetheless. So what is missing? She looks up at the people around her. Is she supposed to talk to someone?
She answers her mobile. “Yeah?”
“Oh, Martha…you've got to call dad and tell him he can't bring his girlfriend.”
“Now, Ms…” the doctor picks up the form from the side of the bed. Martha looks at the girl lying on the bed in a hospital gown. Her hair is bleached blonde and she's wearing a thick layer of mascara. She smiles, and nothing seems to be wrong with her. “Rose Tyler,” the doctor reads, and puts down the clipboard. “You say you have unusual stomach cramps?”
“What is going on?!” Martha yells to her colleague as the strange rhino-headed creatures storm through the hallways of the hospital. Apparently they're checking to see if everyone is human. Oh, and it seems that they're on the moon. It doesn't freak Martha out as much as it does everyone else, but she'd still rather be on Earth.
Her colleague doesn't hear her and keeps running down the hall. Martha stands there, rolling her eyes. This is completely ridiculous.
Someone bumps into her and she looks up. “I'm sorry,” the same blonde girl from before says quickly in a cockney accent.
“Wait, what's going on?” Martha asks. She has a feeling this girl will know.
“I can't really tell you,” the girl says, looking nervous. “But it will be fine,” she assures her, and runs off.
Martha shakes her head. Some help that was.
The rhinos are getting closer and she decides that she might as well comply. She doesn't want to get evaporated like that guy did earlier.
As she awaits her fate, she sees a man run toward her. He's tall and is wearing pinstripe blue suit. And for some reason, he isn't wearing any shoes.
“Oh, no,” he says as he spots the rhinos. “Oh, no, no, no…”
“Just let them scan you,” Martha tells him. He looks at her like she's crazy.
“Can't. Alien,” he says, and Martha's eyes widen. This guy must be from the psychiatric ward. He continues, “And it's going to be very bad when they find me. Oh!” he exclaims. “Idea!”
Martha shakes her head, but responds. “Yeah?”
“Sorry about this,” he says, and then kisses her.
She closes her eyes, not quite understanding that he's kissing her. She just goes with it, and it feels so right. Her heart is pounding faster and she can feel herself blushing.
He breaks the kiss and she's still standing there, her head tilted up. He smiles. “Thanks,” he says and runs off.
Her hand makes its way up to her lips and she gently touches them. They're tingling, and she doesn't remember a kiss that made her feel that way since…ever.
She also doesn't notice that the rhinos are getting closer. When they reach her, one of them holds up a cylindrical object and scans her.
“Alien genetic material detected,” the rhino grunts, and Martha raises her eyebrows. So the man was telling the truth? “Full scan required.”
The night after the incident with the hospital, Martha is at Leo's party. All goes badly, as expected, and everyone storms out. Martha is the last to leave.
She stands outside the door, and looks to the corner. She feels like someone was there, but when she looks she sees no one. Quickly she looks back to her frantic family, smiles, and runs after them.
Tish's new boyfriend is a real artsy type, so he invites Tish and Martha to a student performance of Love's Labours Lost that he's in. Tish seems really excited, but Martha knows she's never liked Shakespeare.
Martha herself is excited to go. Shakespeare, she thinks. She hasn't really ever had the time to go see a performance. In school she studied some of his plays--Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet. But Love's Labours Lost seemed like it was going to be quite entertaining.
She picks up Tish at seven, but Tish is still getting ready. Martha rolls her eyes--she simply wore a black tank and a pair of jeans she got from H&M, dabbed a bit of blue eyeshadow on, styled her hair and went out. But Tish bought a special dress for this night and everything. So she and Tish arrive late at the performance.
After the play, Martha goes up to Tish's boyfriend. “What about Love's Labours Won?” she asks.
“What?” he says, and she repeats the question.
“The sequel,” she adds on at the end. “The sequel to Love's Labours Lost. I've heard about it, but I can't quite remember…”
“Oh,” he says. “That's one of Shakespeare's missing plays. It's written down in lists of his plays but no one's ever found a copy.”
Martha nods her head. “I think I knew that.” She has no idea how. “What happened to it?”
“No one knows.”
“Oh.”
Martha drops the subject, but she desperately wants to know what the story is behind the missing play. She has a feeling that it's something extraordinary.
She goes home that night intending to read some Shakespeare. She can't find any copies in her apartment though, and simply picks up Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Tish has set Martha up with a guy she knows. Martha hates blind dates, but goes along with it anyway. There have been remarks about Martha's lack of a love life from her friends, and Martha has decided to do something about it. She just wishes it wasn't through a blind date with one of her sister's friends.
She's gotten ready and is waiting for him to pick her up. The buzzer rings, and she goes down to the door. He's standing there, wearing this awful blue pinstripe suit and his hair is a total mess. This was the guy that Tish set her up with?
But to tell the truth, she kind of likes the suit he's wearing and his messy hair. It reminds her of the man that kissed her the day the hospital went to the moon. When she thinks about him, her heartbeat gets faster. So when they go into the restaurant she doesn't feel the least embarrassed to be with this oddly dressed man.
The conversation starts up after they get their drinks. “I read that the sun is going to go out in five billion years. What do you think is going to happen to the human race?” he asks.
“I don't know,” Martha says awkwardly. She doesn't particularly want to talk about the extermination of the human race on a date.
“I think that we'll all be dead,” he says, and Martha groans inwardly. She so wants to kill Tish.
But she replies instead. “I don't know,” she says. “I think that we'll have moved on and be living in cities like we always have. New New York,” she says, and is surprised because the name came out of nowhere.
He laughs. “New New York?” he repeats. “That's ridiculous.”
It is. But somehow, it feels right.
“Oh my God,” Martha exclaims. “We really are in New York!”
Tish smiles. “I know, this is awesome.”
Martha looks around. “It's a lot bigger than I thought it would be. I mean, I knew it was big but it's really big.”
“So let's start!” Tish says.
“Start what?”
Tish grins. “Shopping!”
Martha rolls her eyes, but goes along with Tish. They walk along Fifth Avenue until Martha says, “Let's go to Central Park.”
“What?” Tish asks. “That came out of nowhere.”
Martha shrugs. “I know, but I kind of want to see it. I read about something...Hooverville, I think it was there, a while ago and I wanted to see where it was.”
Tish raises an eyebrow as they pass a giant version of The Gap. “You want to go to the park,” she repeats, and Martha shrugs again.
“I guess.”
Tish rolls her eyes. “If you want to go sightseeing, why don't we just go to the Empire State Building?” she asks. “I heard that the view is beautiful from the top.”
“Fine,” Martha says, and they do.
They stand in line for what seems like forever, but Tish was right--once they get to the top, Martha gasps. She doesn't think she's ever seen anything so spectacular.
She looks up to the spire, and notices a few pieces of weird metal toward the top. Semi-spheres lodged on gold plating, right near the top. Quite strange.
They go to Central Square and pass a certain theater. Martha stops outside of it and Tish walks for a little before noticing that her sister is no longer beside her. “What is it?” she asks.
“I've been here before…” Martha trails off.
“What?” Tish asks, walking back to where Martha is standing. “No you haven't.”
“But I remember it…”
Tish shrugs. “You must have seen it in one of those old movies.”
Martha looks back at the theater, and then turns away. “Yeah, I guess.”
They wander around and then decide go to see a movie. A chick flick, because Tish absolutely loves those. Martha doesn't mind them either.
When the movie ends, they exit the theater. “There's someone for everyone,” Martha comments and the two sisters make their way back to the hotel.
“I'm not just a passenger. This is my car, after all,” Martha says. “Or well, it should be.”
Tish rolls her eyes. “Just shut up, we're late and I'm head of PR.”
“Your fault.”
“Shut up,” Tish insists.
Martha rolls her eyes. “Who is this Lazarus guy anyway?” she asks. “He says that it's gonna change what it means to be human.”
“Yeah,” Tish says. “He's kind of weird, but it's a good job.”
It turns out that the whole event is completely insane and not just weird, but Martha finds it vaguely entertaining. Incredibly frightening, but entertaining nonetheless. And she swears she's seen two of those waiters somewhere before. It's all very, very strange.
They manage to escape outside from the terrifying, mutated, alien creature. Martha and Tish are panting while they help hold concussed Leo up.
Martha swallows. “I have to go back. I have to help.”
“What?” Tish and her mum say.
“I just have to,” Martha insists.
“No way,” her mother states.
“You can't,” Tish tells her. “You'll be killed. Please, just stay with us,” she begs.
Martha feels that she should go back inside, but nods in agreement. It's more important to stay with her family.
But as they drive home, panic stricken and shocked, she feels that she's turning her back on someone very important. Like she should be doing something to help.
She sighs. She's been feeling that way a lot lately. Like something is missing.
Maybe something is.
“Who had more hit singles, Elvis or The Beatles?” Martha asks her mother. Her mother raises her eyebrows, shocked by the out of the blue question.
“Since when did you care?” her mother replies. Martha shrugs.
“I've just been wondering.”
“And what are happy primes?”
“What is this, twenty-one questions?”
“More like forty-two,” Martha answers. She's just had all these random questions stored up inside her, and now that she and her mother are sitting at the table she's decided to let them all out.
“Well, let me as you something,” her mother starts, point to an article in the newspaper. “Are you going to vote for Harold Saxon?”
Martha nods. “Definitely.”
“I've seen that watch before,” Martha says, pointing at a watch in the jewelry store. Tish has dragged her there, looking for a new necklace.
Tish looks over to where Martha standing. “I think it looks horrid,” she comments, and goes back to gushing over a diamond heart necklace she can't possibly afford.
Martha tilts her head and keeps staring at the watch. “I think it looks interesting,” she mumbled. It has a strange pattern on it, almost like a geometric design. It's a pocket watch, and it looks very old fashioned.
“Do you want to see it?” the clerk asks, and Martha nods. As the clerk takes the watch out from the case, she explains its history. “It belonged to a Major in the First World War. His estate sold it to us not long ago, but no one seems interested in buying it.”
Martha looks at it closer. “Can I…?” she motions to it, and the clerk nods.
“Go ahead, open it I you want.”
Martha picks it up. It's frighteningly cool in her hand, and she can feel chills go up her spine. She puts her thumb on the latch and presses gently, seeing the watch quickly flip open.
Everything seems to get a bit lighter and she starts to hear things. The Oncoming Storm. The Doctor. Time and Space. Relative Dimension. The Time War.
She abruptly closes it, convincing herself that she was simply imagining things. The clerk looks at her strangely. “Do you want to buy it?” she asks.
And as frightened as Martha is, she desperately wants to say yes. But she puts it down, thanks the clerk, grabs her sister and walks away.
For months she can feel the chills run through her.
“I'm gonna just go inside and grab that movie, okay?” Martha says as she walks toward the store.
Tish rolls her eyes. “Fine, but make it quick, I'm starving.”
Martha ignores her sister and walks through the door. She quickly finds her movie and goes to the front desk.
A pretty blonde girl is standing there, writing intently. Martha doesn't want to interrupt the girl because she seems so focused, but instead she quietly taps on the counter.
“Um, hello,” she says. The girl looks up, eyes wide, and then smiles.
“Hey,” she says and looks at the movie. “Seven pounds.”
Martha digs into her pants for her wallet and takes the money out. As she's handing it over to the girl behind the counter she notices a picture on the table. It's of a stone angel, silently weeping, its hands covering its eyes.
“Hey,” Martha says as the girl gets her change. “I've seen that statue before.”
The girl looks at her, suddenly very grave. “Yeah,” she says. “A weeping angel.”
“Right…” Martha says, taking her change from the girl. “Thanks.”
The girl nods, and goes back to writing.
The End of the Universe is the title of the book. Martha has no idea why she's reading it. It's complete bollocks anyway. Like there would be any human left a trillion years from now, and they certainly wouldn't be looking for a place called “Utopia.”
She puts the book down and rolls over. God, is she tired. She quickly falls asleep.
And, not surprisingly, she dreams of the last of the humans at the end of the universe. She dreams that she's with two men, one who has seen forever and one who can never die. And together, they explore the end of the universe.
It all seems right.
And when she wakes up the next day, it doesn't feel like she's woken up from a dream. It feels like she has just gone to sleep.
It felt so right to be traveling with those men. To be seeing the end of forever and the last of the humans. She shakes her head. She just hasn't had her morning jolt of caffeine yet.
As she gets up and dresses, she turns on the television where she hears the big news.
Harold Saxon has been elected prime minister.
“Let her go!” Martha screams in horror as her sister is killed before her eyes. “Let her go!” She's crying now, scalding tears running down her cheeks. She feels hopeless and alone.
From zero to sixty everything's gone straight to hell. Mr. Saxon announced that they were making first contact with aliens, and then all of a sudden everyone is dying. Martha's family is dying.
The orb floats toward her and Martha swings at it. She knows that hitting it will do nothing, but has no idea what else to do.
It seems that her act of aggression has been taken badly by the orb. It unsheathes its long, sharp spikes and starts to spin.
Martha knows that running away will do no good, so she waits for her death.
It doesn't come. There's a spark of some sort and the orb falls.
Martha looks around. There's a man standing there. “Hey, are you alright?” he asks, and Martha shakes her head. “Of course not. I'm Tom Milligan, by the way,” he says.
“Martha Jones,” she manages to croak out. “How…how did you kill it?”
A quirky smile appears on his face. “Specially calibrated guns. It's brilliant, isn't it?”
“Yeah. Brilliant,” Martha says quietly.
Tom tells her the story that he heard from Rose Tyler. Martha, like everyone else, has heard of Rose Tyler. The girl is a legend, traveling across the world, searching for a way to stop Saxon.
Tom tells her about the plan, and Martha thinks it's ridiculous. Saying “Doctor” over and over again? But then he tells her she should hear it from the source.
He takes her to a crowded building and Martha sees a familiar face sitting on the steps to the second floor. The girl has the same bleached blonde hair, except it's longer now, and she's no longer wearing caked mascara. Her face looks very plain and worn, and Martha understands that she's gone through more than anyone else in the world.
Rose starts her story. “Yes, I've traveled the world. Yes, it was to stop Saxon. But it wasn't to find a way. It was to share with the world what I was told would stop him.
“I shouldn't be the legend. I'm just the messenger. But there's a man, the Doctor, who can save us all. He's done so countless times. And he never stays, never asks for gratitude. He's our protector, our savior, and he can do it again. I believe in him. I love him, more than anyone else.
"He told me how to stop Saxon. When the countdown starts-the countdown to launch the missiles-you have to think his name. He has this way he's tapped into the Arkangel Network, and we can channel all our energy to him. You have to say his name. You have to really believe it. You have to think of all the times he's saved us. You have to believe in him, just like I do.
"You have to believe in the Doctor.”
Martha stands there, intently listening with everyone else. And strangely, she understands every word Rose has said, as if she could have made the speech herself. Martha doesn't need any convincing-she believes in the Doctor.
So when the time comes, the time to say his name and really believe in him, she has no problem doing so. She stands out there with the countless number of other frightened, battered people and shouts his name. Doctor. Doctor.
And as she's doing that, the feeling that she's had for the past year starts to fade. That feeling that she's missing something.
The Doctor is there, and there's nothing to be missed.
Martha Jones wakes up in the morning, same as ever. Her hair, though, is perfectly tame, and that makes her fairly happy. It rarely ever happens to her.
And as she swings her legs over her bed, her foot catching on her laptop cable and sending the laptop crashing to the floor, she has a feeling that something is missing.
She stands up quickly and looks in the mirror. Wasn't she supposed to be doing something?
She scans her mind, and nothing seems to come to her. One memory stands out, though, and she touches her lips.
Quickly she shoves that memory out of her mind. She has to go to work.
She's a doctor now. Whenever she thinks about it, she smiles. She's a doctor now. She's achieved her goal.
Doctor. The word makes lips tingle and her heart pound. “Doctor,” she whispers.
She shakes her head. It means nothing.
But somehow, whenever she says the word she feels like there's something she's forgotten. Like there are these faded memories, carefully tucked away in the back of her mind, of an extraordinary life that never came to pass.
And whenever she thinks about it, her heart constricts. Then she forgets and goes through the motions of her daily life.
But all the while she knows that something, something is missing.