The Time Lords worked on piloting the TARDIS while Martha clung on to the console for dear life. Finally, the lurching stopped, meaning they'd landed. "There we go." the Doctor said proudly, "Perfect landing. Which isn't easy in such a tight spot."
"You two should be used to tight spots by now." Martha laughed, "Where are we?"
"The end of the line." the Doctor replied as Martha rushed to the doors, "No place like it."
Martha stepped outside, only to find herself in her bedroom. "Home?" she questioned, disappointed, "You took me home."
"Bit of an anti-climax." the Artist remarked as she and Doctor stepped out too.
"Back to the morning after we left." the Doctor said to Martha, "So, you've only been about 12 hours. No time at all, really."
"But all the stuff we've done... Shakespeare, New New York, Old New York..."
"Yep. All in one night, relatively speaking." the Doctor replied, looking at photos of the Jones family on the wall.
"That's time travel for you, Martha." the Artist added, "You can travel about for days, weeks, even years, but still be back home just minutes after you left. If the TARDIS co-operates, of course."
"Everything should be just as it was." the Doctor continued, looking around the room, "Books, CDs..." He picked up a pair of underwear off the clothes horse. "Laundry." An embarrassed Martha promptly snatched them off him. "So, back where you were, as promised."
"This is it?" Martha frowned.
The Artist could understand the human's disappointment. She remembered what Sarah Jane had said about how difficult it was adjusting back to normal life. The Doctor on the other hand seemed completely oblivious. "Yeah, we should probably, um..." He gestured to the TARDIS.
Then the phone rang, going straight to the answering machine. "I'm sorry." Martha said to the Time Lords.
Francine's voice came over the machine; "Martha? Are you there? Pick it up, will you?"
"It's mum, it'll wait." Martha said, not really interested in listening to her mum's trademark ranting and moaning right now.
"Alright then, pretend you're out, if you like." Francine continued, "I was only calling to say that your sister is going to be on TV. On the news, of all things. Just thought you might be interested."
That piped Martha's interest and she turned the telly on to see a press conference, hosted by an elderly man. "The details are top secret." the man said.
"How could Tish end up on the news?" Martha wandered. She got her answer when she saw Tish standing behind the man, who according to the news was Professor Richard Lazarus.
"But I can tell you that tonight, I shall demonstrate a device..."
"She's got a new job, PR for some lab." Martha told the Time Lords.
"With the push of a single button, I will change what it means to be human." Lazarus said proudly.
Martha at this point decided she'd seen enough and turned the telly off. "Sorry. You were saying, you should..."
"Yes, yes. We should." the Doctor said, "One trip, that's what I said."
"Yeah, you said." the Artist muttered. She'd come to really like Martha and wanted her to become a full-time companion.
"Yeah." Martha said, "I suppose things just kinda escalated."
"Mmm, happens to us quite a lot." the Doctor replied.
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Halfway Out Of The Dark || The Doctor
FanfictionFollow the adventures of The Last Time Lady, The Artist, saved by the eccentric time-traveler known as The Doctor at the end of the time war, which sees their home plant of Gallifrey lost, as they travel through all of time and space in his unique c...
