"Theta come on, you know you love having Martha around just as much as I do." Rita telepathically protested watching him from the jump seat next to Martha.
"We promised one trip."
"You promised one trip" She corrected him. "I never promised her anything."
"Rita no, I made my promise."
"You already broke it by taking her to New New York."
"Rita, no. You know very well why we can't, I almost lost you to the Daleks, I can't keep the both of you safe." He told her turning a dial on the TARDIS console.
"You can't ever keep me one hundred percent, safe Doctor."
"But I can try, it's harder to do that with the two of you, especially when you jump into the slightest of danger."
"So do you!" She crossed her arms glaring at him, Martha looked at the brunette confused wondering what was going on inside her head, she then looked over at the Doctor noticing him glaring back at her.
"Yes but that's me, not you."
"I'm going to so kill you when she leaves."
"Not if I kill you first."
"Is that a challenge... Theta?" She smirked over at him.
"Only if you make it one"
"You only said that because you know too well that I could never do that." She raised her brows at him.
"There we go." The Doctor said aloud not commenting on what the Time Lady just told him. "Perfect landing. Which isn't easy in such a tight spot."
"You should be used to tight spots by now. Where are we?" Martha asked walking to the door. Rita whined a little sadly looking at the Doctor.
"Don't even think about using the eyes on me Rita" He pointed at her sternly while Martha had her back to the two. Rita huffed rolling her eyes at him. Martha then turned to look at them beside the door and the Doctor continued. "The end of the line. No place like it."
Martha stepped out beaming but then her face fell seeing where she was. "Home. You took me home?" She asked sadly.
"In fact, the morning after we left, so you've only been gone about twelve hours. No time at all, really." He replied.
"Are you sure it's been only twleve hours" Rita snorted. "I may not have foreknowledge anymore but I can remember old conversations. Twleve months Doctor." She wiggled a finger in his face teasingly.
"Don't make me leave you here as well." He teased back.
"You wouldn't dare."
"Watch me." He warned her causing her to roll her eyes.
"But all the stuff we've done. Shakespeare, New New York, old New York?" Martha sadly looked at the two of them.
"Yep, all in one night, relatively speaking. Everything should be just as it was. Books, CDs, laundry." He picked up a pair of Martha's clothes off of the clothing rack which she then grabbed. Rita swatted him on the back of the head scolding him and narrowing her eyes. "Ow." he rubbed the back of his head. "Back were you were, as promised." He looked at Martha then Rita emphersising the word 'promised'
"This is it?" Martha asked.
"Yeah, we should probably er-" He looked at Rita as a phone rang.
The answer machine then began. "Hi, I'm out. Leave a message." The Martha on the phone called out.
"I'm sorry." She looked at the Time Lords a little embarrassed.
"Martha, are you there?" Her mother asked. "Pick it up, will you?"
"It's Mum." Martha told them. "It'll wait."
"All right then, pretend that you're out if you like." Her mother grumbled. "I was only calling to say that your sister's on TV. On the news of all things. Just thought you might be interested." Martha frowned then grabbed the television remote and turned it on, the screen lit up to show an old man with what the Time Lords guessed to be Martha's sister standing beside the man.
"The details are top secret." He said.
"How could Tish end up on the news?" Martha asked staring at the TV.
"Tonight, I will demonstrate a device which will redefine our world."
"She's got a new job. PR for some research lab." Martha explained as the man started to speak again.
"With the push of a single button, I will change what it means to be human." Rita's eyebrows slightly raised. 'The Doctor wouldn't miss this' She thought watching the screen.
"Professor! Professor!" A man started to shout on the tv. Martha then switched it back off turning to the Doctor.
"Sorry. You were saying we should?" She asked looking at the two of them.
"Yes, yes, we should." he nodded. "One trip is what we said."
"What you said" Rita corrected him. "I'll have you know that I protested against this. I swear on that with my hearts" She placed a hand on her left heart and then the right causing MArtha to let out a chuckle. "Sadly I think he is a little right thought." She sighed. "He did say one trip."
"Yeah. I suppose things just kind of escalated." Martha shrugged sadly.
"Mmm. Seems to happen to us a lot." He looked at Rita who shook her head at him.
"Thank you. For everything." She looked at both of them.
"It was our pleasure." The Doctor smiled then walked into the TARDIS.
"I have a feeling that I will see you again Martha Jones" Rita smiled giving the woman a hug.
"I'll miss you Stone."
"As will I. Until then, I have to put up with him."
"I heard that!" He shouted from inside the TARDIS causing both women to laugh.
"Goodbye Martha" Rita said before entering the TARDIS before it dematerialised. Martha watched in sadness and awe seeing the beautiful blue box disappear. She turned around sighing but then spun back around hearing the unique sound. Looking in show she saw the TARDIS materialise again the Doctor then popped his head out.
"No, I'm sorry. Did he say he was going to change what it means to be human?" he asked before the brunettes head popped out under his.
"I did say I had a feeling that I would see you again." She laughed.
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"Martha, honestly I don't think I like this dress" Rita sighed looking in the mirror at the dark blue dress, a little darker than the exterior of the TARDIS, she was currently wearing. Her attention mostly on the ribbion that was tied at the front going all the way around her waist causing her to look thinner than she wished. "To be fair I don't like any dresses."
She pulled on parts of the dress watching it flow as she let go moving back to its shape. She sighed twirling around just because she could and remembered back to when she was forced to go to formal parties as a child, forced to talk and act a certain way. It was one of the reasons she hated dresses, she wasn't herself in them and she hated it.
"Oh come on I have never seen you in a dress before." Martha protested walking in and raising her brows at the sight. "How can you say you don't like it?" She asked walking over to the brunette.
"I never really liked them from a young age." She shrugged looking at her friend through the mirror. "I was forced to do things I didn't want to do, dress wearing and formal parties and dinners were one of the many. My parents were ones to kiss a lot of erm." She pursed her lips stopping before deciding to change the conversation. "The Doctor continuously teased me for some of the pronunciations I used to have because of the way I was told to speak, eventually he helped me break the habit and I forgot about it.
"I don't think he will be teasing you tonight." Martha chuckled. "Quite the opposite" She muttered under her breath far too quiet for her to hear.
"I suppose I can't keep trying on dress after dress" Rita sighed. "Shame I can't just go in jeans and vans. Now that I would be happy with."
"I don't understand you're clothing style some times." Martha shook her head.
"Me neither" Rita shrugged. "Shocks me sometimes with how much it can suddenly change, amongst other things..." She then turned around. "I suppose I can't go around wearing my vans with this, or I could" She mischievously grinned.
"I swear you are becoming more and more like him."
"Oh shut up Martha" Rita rolled her eyes not meaning what she was saying. "I'm not wearing heels."
"Fine, but if anyone says anything then I'm not saying anything to defend you."
"As disgusting as it is I'll just say I have an ingrowing toe nail" She laughed. "Won't question it any further then. We best go, the Doctor is probably itching to go and find out what your sister's friend is planning."
"He most likely went ahead himself." Martha rolled her eyes following Rita out of her room and heading to the console.
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"Haven't gone on without us I see?" Rita said walking over to the console. The Doctor turned around and his eyes widened as they landed on her. He swallowed looking up and down at her dress, he opened his mouth to speak but no words exited.
"You feeling okay Theta?" Rita frowned slightly concerned.
"I- I'm fine" He stuttered swallowing again still staring at the brunette.
"I look horrible, I know." She groaned.
"What?" his eyes snapped up to meet hers. "Rita honestly you look beautiful," he admitted softly smiling at her.
"You don't happen to look too bad yourself." She smiled at him. "I have to say though I think Martha looks the best." Rita turned around looking at the human woman.
"Compared to you Stone? Not a chance."
"Oh, Martha." She shook her head. "Please just accept my compliment so we can go, the quicker we go th quicker we come back and the quicker I can get back and in to clothes I actually like."
"Okay, okay." She held her hands up.
"Come on Ladies" The Doctor turned around heading out of the TARDIS.
"Ladies?" Rita questioned walking out of the TARDIS with Martha. He shrugged and continued walking down the street which they had parked the TARDIS on close to the venue.
"Oh, black tie." The Doctor grumped messing with his tie causing Rita to swat his arm away from it.
"You do that and I will have to fix it because I don't see any mirrors for you to do it." She rolled her eyes. "And stop messing with your cuffs" she swatted his hands away from his wrists as he started to fiddle with them.
"You're starting to sound like my mother." He muttered.
Rita stopped in her tracks squeezing her eyes shut and sighing. "Never compare your best friend to your own mother." She muttered. The Doctor smirked enjoying himself. He then proceeded to fiddle with his tie again causing Rita to groan and hit his hand away again.
"Whenever I wear this, something bad always happens." He sighed.
"You think it's the tie?" Rita raised a brow at him.
"It's not the outfit, that's just you." Martha agreed with the Time Lady. "Anyway, I think it suits you. In a James Bond kind of way."
"Hmm" Rita looked up and down the Doctor placed a hand on her chin. "I see what you mean there Martha.
The Doctor looked at them both mortified "James Bond? Really?" He said in an offended tone.
"Sweetheart it's a compliment." Rita rolled her eyes. The Doctor held out his arm and she happily linked hers with his with Martha walking beside them as they entered the building with the large title above it reading 'Lazarus Laboratories'.
They walked in and Rita slightly shivered. The Doctor looked at her raising a brow. "Something wrong,"
"It's so... formal." She looked around disgusted seeing all of the waiters walking around with food and drinks, people stood around a large machine chatting with one another.
The Doctor snorted a laugh and shook his head. "Oh, you do surprise me sometimes." He replied pretending to wipe his eyes. "I remember when you were younger..."
"Not now" she groaned. "We don't need Martha knowing how much you teased me about what I had to wear.
"You should have seen her." The Doctor looked at Martha. "Bright-"
"Oh look, Doctor, they have nibbles." Rita cut him off.
His eyes lit up and he let go of the brunette scooping up a bunch of tiny bits of food as a waiter walked past. "I love nibbles!" He exclaimed shoving a few into his mouth.
Martha looked at the brunette astonished of how she actually just did that. "Like I have most likely said to you before, he get's easily distracted." Martha let out a chuckle then turned around hearing the voice of her sister.
"Tish!" She beamed hugging her.
"You look great. So, what do you think? Impressive, isn't it?" Tish asked looking around.
"Very." Martha nodded. Rita slowly stepped back beside the Doctor and pinched a nibble from his hand. He glared at her as she popped it in her mouth giggling at the reaction he was giving her for stealing it.
"And two nights out in a row for you." Tish continued. "That's dangerously close to a social life."
"If I keep this up, I'll end up in all the gossip columns." Martha joked.
"You might, actually." Her sister laughed. "You should keep an eye out for photographers. And Mum, she's coming too. Even dragging Leo along with her."
"Leo in black tie? That I must see." Martha gasped chuckling a little. "This is, er, the Doctor and the Stone." Martha gestured to them both.
"Hello." The Doctor nodded and Rita waved while stealing another nibble from the Doctors hand.
"Are they with you?" Tish asked raising a brow, not looking very impressed by seeing them act like what she thought was young children stealing each other's food.
"Yeah." Martha nodded.
"But their not on the list. How did they get in?" Tish asked.
Martha opened her mouth to speak however Rita interrupted. "The Doctor is Martha's plus one. I'm here in place of Mr Stoker who sadly died in the events which happened yesterday. Such a tragic death." She sighed slowly shaking her head. "I only got told I was coming myself this morning, which is most likely why I am not on the list, the Doctor is also a good friend of mine and offered to take me, I also know Martha from work." She finished then added. "My apologies for the confusion Miss Jones." She smiled. The Doctor and Martha blinked at how legitimate that actually sounded.
"So, this Lazarus, he's your boss?" The Doctor then asked.
"Professor Lazarus" she corrected "Yes. I'm part of his executive staff."
"She's in the PR department," Martha informed them.
"I'm head of the PR department, actually." Tish corrected her sister.
Martha gasped at Tish. "You're joking."
"I put this whole thing together."
"So do you know what the professor's going to be doing tonight?" The Doctor asked. "That looks like it might be a-" the Doctor began, Rita then cut him off. "Sonic micro field manipulator."
"I was going to say that." He grumbled at her.
"But I said it first." She teased stealing the last nibble and eating it.
"Their science geeks. I should have known." Tish muttered to Martha. "Got to get back to work now. I'll catch up with you later." She then walked off and the Doctor asked: "Science geek? What does that mean?"
"That you're obsessively enthusiastic about it," Martha explained.
"Oh, nice." The Doctor smiled.
"Sounds like us." Rita shrugged turning around to look at the machine. "It gives me the creeps." The Doctor looked at her waiting for her to explain. "The machine, I got a bad feeling about it, it's probably nothing though." She shrugged. "Oh and don't do anything to make yourself look stupid, your not the best peoples person sweetheart." She shook her head and he rolled his eyes at her.
"Mum!" Martha gasped turning around and giving her mum a large hug. The Doctor and Rita also turned around watching the two.
"All right, what's the occasion?" Her mother asked.
"What do you mean?" Martha shrugged it off. "I'm just pleased to see you, that's all."
"You saw me last night." She protested.
"I know. I just miss you. You're looking good, Leo." She grinned at her brother.
"Yeah. If anyone asks me to fetch them a drink, I'll swing for him." He joked.
"You disappeared last night." Marthas mother's face fell slightly her eyes glancing over to behind her daughter noticing the Doctor and Rita.
"I just went home." She shrugged it off.
"On your own?"
"These are friends of mine. The Doctor and the Stone."
"Rita Stone" Rita waved. "Most of my friends just call me Stone, however."
Martha's mother nodded then turned to the Doctor. "Doctor what?"
"No, it's just the Doctor. We've been doing some work together."
"Your daughter is very clever Mrs Jones." Rita smiled seeing the woman was slightly uneasy about the Doctor due to never hearing of him or Rita before. "She's been helping me a lot with my work."
"And what would that be?" Mrs Jones asked.
"Oh, I have been recently researching about different diseases. Almost hit a break through." She chuckled.
"I see" Mrs Jones nodded.
"You all right, mate?" Leo looked at the Doctor who nodded shaking his hand.
"It's lovely to meet you, Mrs Jones. Heard a lot about you."
"Now you've done it." Rita sighed a little.
"Have you? What have you heard, then?" She asked.
"Oh, you know, that you're Martha's mother and." He looked at Martha and Rita for help. "Er, no, actually, that's about it. We haven't had much time to chat. You know, been... busy."
"Busy? Doing what, exactly?" She asked.
"Oh, you know... Stuff."
"Sorry, he's not really a people person to be fair." Rita patted the Doctors arm. "Don't mind him though." She sighed deeply as a man tapped on a glass. Everyone turned to his direction and they noticed it was Professor Lazarus standing beside the machine as the lights dimmed.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I am going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch and wonder. Tomorrow, you will wake to a world which will be changed forever." He then entered the machine and two scientists start to power up the machine.the four columns began to circulate the machine and glow a bright blue shining the room. An alarm then sounded
"Something's wrong. It's overloading." The Doctor and Rita looked at each other.
"I knew I didn't like that machine" Rita muttered before running over with the Doctor, both of them taking out their sonics, trying to stop the machine.
"Somebody stop them!" An older woman shouted at the Time Lords. "Get them away from those controls!"
"If this thing goes up, it'll take the whole building with it. Is that what you want?" The Doctor asked continuing to use his sonic screwdriver on the controls. Rita then jumped over and pulled a massive power cable causing the machine to slow down to a stop.
"Somebody get it open!" Rita shouted. Martha then pulled open the door as Rita and the Doctor ran to the front of the machine. A young man then staggered out. "Oh my god." Rita gasped. "This isn't good"
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Richard Lazarus. I am seventy-six years old and I am reborn!" He proudly shouted. The crowd then applauded. The Doctor, Rita and Martha looked horrified as he beamed.
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"It can't be the same guy." Martha shook her head standing by one of the columns of the machine watching Lazarus. "It's impossible. It must be a trick."
"Oh, it's not a trick." The Doctor sighed.
"Trust me. We wish it were." Rita added.
Martha looked at them then asked: "What just happened then?"
"He just changed what it means to be human."
"The one thing I wish you humans wouldn't mess with, how long you live and how long until you die." she sighed. "Until you realise what it can truely do you want it, but then it becomes a curse that you have to live on with forever." The Doctor sadly looked at the brunette and took her hand in comfort. "I'm alright." She looked up at him feeling his thumb move over her knuckles.
"I know." he sadly smiled at her knowing it was partly the truth.
Rita looked back at Lazarus and noticed him tense up. "I think that's our que Doctor." She raised her brows and he nodded following her.
"I'm famished," Lazurus said between mouth fulls of food.
"Energy deficit." The Doctor stated. "That always happens with this kind of process. We've seen it before." The Doctor looked at Rita who nodded.
"You speak as if you see this every day, Mister?"
"Doctor, this is the Stone." He gestured to Rita. "And well, no, not every day, but we have some experience of this kind of transformation." He stated.
"That's not possible," Lazurus told them.
"You used hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance," Rita explained. "That's quite impressive."
"You both understand the theory, then." He looked at them and they nodded.
"Enough to know that you couldn't possibly have allowed for all the variables."
"No experiment is entirely without risk."
"That thing nearly exploded. You might as well have stepped into a blender."
"You should always look at all the variables," Rita told Lazarus. "My mother taught me that, you know, I don't think she was that bad of a woman sometimes."
"Well, she was your mother." The Doctor told her.
"She had her moments of glory." Rita shrugged. "Anyways enough about my family, the Doctor is right, that almost exploded destroying the whole building with it."
"You're not qualified to comment." A woman snapped at them.
"If the Stone hadn't stopped it, it would have exploded." The Doctor stated coldly.
"Then I thank you both, Doctor, Stone. But that's a simple engineering issue. What happened inside the capsule was exactly what was supposed to happen. No more, no less."
"You've no way of knowing that until you've run proper tests." Martha interrupted.
"Look at me. You can see what happened. I'm all the proof you need."
"On the outside but your DNA could say otherwise," Rita told him.
"This device will be properly certified before we start to operate commercially." The woman told them.
"Commercially? You are joking. That'll cause chaos." Martha gasped.
"Not chaos, change. A chance for humanity to evolve, to improve."
"This isn't about improving. This is about you and your customers living a little longer." The Doctor spat.
"Not a little longer, Doctor. A lot longer. Perhaps indefinitely." Lazarus corrected him.
"Richard, we have things to discuss, upstairs." The woman smiled pulling him away.
"Goodbye, Doctor, Stone. In a few years, you'll look back and laugh at how wrong you were." He kissed Martha's hand. The Doctor placed an arm around Rita's waist as he went to kiss hers. He glared at the Doctor slightly before leaving with the woman.
"Thank you" she breathed. "Sometimes you can be such a sweetheart." She chuckled, Martha looked at them both strangely not understanding what they found funny.
"Could say the same about you."
"Yeah, you could." She smiled at him and he returned it before his face turned serious again.
"Oh, he's out of his depth. No idea of the damage he might have done."
"So what do we do now?" Martha asked them.
"Now? Well, this building must be full of laboratories. I say we do our own tests."
"Ah reminds me of when I had my own, feels like such a long time ago now." Rita sighed.
"Lucky I've just collected a DNA sample then, isn't it?" Martha held out her hand. The Doctor and Rita both laughed.
"Oh, Martha Jones, you're a star." He beamed.
"I said you were amazing." Rita grinned before adding: "Andiamo"
"French is better." The Doctor commented walking beside her.
"I like Italian more" Rita shrugged.
"You just want to copy me." He pouted slightly.
"Aww sweetheart, you wish." She patted his cheek lightly laughing.
"Andiamo it is," Martha muttered.
"Please don't." The Doctor grumbled following the pair.
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Only around 16ish chapters of this book left (depending on how many words each episode comes to since I split them up to be around 4000 words each. I can't wait for Donna but I will miss Martha ;(