Title: Heart of the Matter(1/3)
Author: Angel S / voicegrl
Summary: The Doctor visits Martha after he leaves Donna at Wilf's.
Spoilers: DW S4 x13.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I am money-less. the BBC, RTD, & the Moff own everything you recognize. Don Henley owns the song that reminded me of this fic.
AN: Okay, so the next epic fic is in my head and I'll be putting out parts of it over the next millenia. I figured I'd go ahead a get you guys a short and sweet 3 parter before that happens. :-)
thanks to persiflage_1 for being a fantastic beta and a good friend.




She was dreaming of the TARDIS.

It happened sporadically. At first, they were nightmares reminiscent of the Year That Never Was…

She was running for her life in some far off distant place with Toclafane chasing after her. Then, the TARDIS would appear and she knew she was safe. She would get an extra burst of energy and head for the beautiful ship. But then, it would start to dematerialize before she reached it. By the time she arrived at what she had thought was blessed salvation, the TARDIS would be gone. Martha would scream and sob. She’d turn to see how far behind her the Toclafane were, just in time to see one of them fire.

She would wake up in a cold sweat with Tom trying to soothe her horrific screams.
Between talking to Jack and finally telling Tom about that year, she began to get a handle on her horrible year. As she and Tom became closer, the nightmares became less intense. When he told her of his intention to spend some time in Africa helping the sick, she couldn’t have been happier for him. She secretly thought the nightmares would resume after he left the first time, but they didn’t. Her nightmares had become less and less frequent over the months until they stopped all together.

Once the Sontaran threat was neutralized, she began to once again dream of the TARDIS. This time, the dreams were more pleasant. She dreamt of the way the TARDIS was always present in the back of her mind while she was on board; a soothing and calming presence on which she could always count.

And now, there it was again, in her dreams. Martha smiled as she rolled onto her right side. She could swear she felt the winds that accompanied the TARDIS whenever the ship materialized. She burrowed deeper beneath the sheets and blankets before once more drifting off into a deeper sleep.

She felt the bed dip. She could’ve sworn Tom was still in Africa.

“Martha,” a voice whispered. She knew she had to be dreaming still. “Martha, wake up.”

Martha sat up quickly as she grabbed the pepper spray under her pillow before facing the intruder. Her eyes widened once they focused on the figure. “I am so going to kill you!” she said angrily.

“With pepper spray?” he innocently inquired.

“Doctor,” she replied. “This is not the time to try for charming.” The Doctor frowned, and Martha had no choice but to chuckle. “What is it you want, Doctor?”

“I didn’t realize how late it was,” he said. “I apologize for the late hour.”

“Is there anything wrong?”

“No, no of course not,” he answered. “I just…you know, this can wait until you’ve had proper sleep.” He stood. “I’ll come back tomorrow morning.”

“You know I won’t get any sleep now,” she told him as she reached for her dressing gown. Unfortunately she couldn’t reach it without getting out of bed, which would prove to be quite disconcerting considering she was wearing only a spaghetti strap top and knickers. “Uh, could you…?”

The Doctor was watching Martha as the sheet fell from her torso. She reached for something and the sheet moved further down her body exposing her bare hip and tiny knickers covering a tiny part of it. Her voice snapped him out of his trance and he pretended to be deep in thought. “Hmmm? Oh! Of course,” he said when he pretended to notice she was pointing somewhere. He stood and ran around to the other side of the bed. He grabbed the dressing gown and quickly gave it to her.

“Why don’t you put the kettle on, and I’ll meet you in the kitchen?” She gestured to her state of undress.

“Right!” He turned and headed to the door before once again stopping.

“Second shelf to the right,” she said.

“Thanks!”

Martha quickly dressed and slipped her feet into her comfy slippers. She stopped at the mirror to make sure she didn’t have embarrassing bed hair, and shuffled to the kitchen to meet the Doctor.

“So, what is it you wanted to talk about?” she asked.

“The Osterhagen Key,” he began. “Is it taken care of?”
"Doctor," she answered. "You could have phoned to ask me about the Osterhagen Key. Is there something else you want to talk about?"

"Nope," he said unconvincingly. "Just checking up in person."

“Yes,” she replied, a bit relieved. “The day after everything happened; I flew to Berlin and took care of it. Jack has it now.”

“We know he won’t use it,” the Doctor said. He walked over to Martha. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” she answered. “I’m always fine.”

“That’s my line,” he told her playfully.

“I couldn’t help it,” she retorted as she went to prepare the tea.

“Martha,” he began, as he looked down at his white converse.

“Doctor, don’t,” she interrupted. “You and I are good. Let’s just sit and have a nice cup of tea. Tell me what happened with Donna. A Time Lord brain in a human body could not have had a happy ending.”

He looked up at his former companion with tears in his eyes. “Is it okay if we sit first?”

End Part 1