EYE CONTACT
It
was the lack of eye contact that got to him the most. The Doctor
hadn’t even realised how much he’d relished the way Martha looked
him straight in the eyes until she didn’t do it anymore. It wasn’t
that she didn’t look at him; she did. Sly little glances when she
thought he wasn’t looking. No, she did look; she just didn’t see
him anymore. Not in that
way.
He found he missed it.
Sighing, he slapped the
side of the monitor as it began to protest with a whine. The TARDIS
wasn’t happy with him, either. Apparently, Martha wasn’t the only
one who’d felt abandoned. “So, where to next?” he asked
lightly, into the empty silence.
Her legs dangling over the
edge of the platform, Martha shrugged in answer. That was another new
development. Before, she never shrugged. “I don’t know, you
pick,” she eventually said, her voice even.
The Doctor
sighed again. That had been her answer the last time he’d asked,
too. Rose had
never held a grudge this long. Yes,
but you never gave Rose a reason to,
his mind prompted, in a voice that sounded suspiciously like his
fifth incarnation. You held her
hand all the way...
And
that was his mistake, he supposed, he’d just assumed Martha would
bounce back to her normal self after a few days. After all, she’d
been brilliant; she’d held onto him with a grim determination, put
up with his tactless remarks…and there had been so many. He winced
at the memory; both of the remark and the slap…and of what had
happened at the dance hall…
He was buggered.
“Right
then,” he said aloud, rubbing his hands together. “I know just
the place.” The console hummed angrily as his hand curled around a
lever, and the TARDIS’s core beated irregularly as a spark arced
and fizzled up his fingers. Bouncing back from the console, the
Doctor bit down on a Terran curse as he tried to shake the sting
again.
“Here, let me look at it,” Martha said, a hint of
concern in her voice as she stood, and he gulped down the urge to say
there was no need as she took his hand in hers and examined it.
“You’ll live,” she said, after a moment, and the Doctor felt
his hearts drop as she let go.
“Martha,” he said,
grabbing her hand as she turned away, and she looked at it flatly.
“Do we have to do this?” she asked quietly.
“Do
what?” the Doctor asked, momentarily puzzled.
“The Talk,”
she said. “That’s what this is, isn’t it? The Talk.”
And,
suddenly, the Doctor knew what to do; after all, it worked the last
time. Gently, he tipped her chin up until her eyes met hers. “No,
no talking,” he said simply, dipping his head. “I think this
needs a demonstration.”
The kiss started out slow and
unsure, and he cupped her face as he felt her slowly relax into it.
He deepened the kiss as her lips parted, taking his time as he
explored the warmth of her mouth, his tongue gliding against hers as
he savoured her taste. Honey and peppermint; so strange, so
human.
With a low, appreciative sigh, Martha began to kiss him
back, exploring his mouth as thoroughly as he’d explored hers as
she moulded herself against him, nudging him against the console. A
small voice, growing fainter by the moment, told him that this was
supposed to be only a kiss, and kisses were two a penny…but maybe a
little bit of his humanity still clung to him, because he ignored it
while her hands slipped inside his suit jacket and wormed under his
shirt.
He pulled her closer as he felt the heat of her hands
stroke the small of his back, letting his fingers run down the back
of her neck and onto her shoulders, tugging at her jacket as he
followed with his lips, feeling her shiver as he tasted her
skin.
“This won’t make everything alright, you know,”
she said hoarsely as her hands wandered lower, brushing the waistband
of his trousers. “It doesn’t work like that.”
He grinned
against her shoulder. “Guess you’ll have to show me how it does
work, then,” he said. “Up
for the challenge?”
Laughing lowly, Martha let him slide her
jacket off. “Tease,” she pronounced, as she pulled his head up
for another kiss.
FINIS
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