SURPRISE!

I kept thinking after the 50th special how would these two interact, and i had to do it. I had to put them in here. He deserved to meet her, to be taken care of by her.

No, i will not be doing canon 12 here, i like my twelve for this story, though Capaldi has grown on me...and Clara of all things if you can believe that And lets not forget Mr. Pink Anyone who has watched Resevoir Dogs would laugh right along with me whenever they watched this season.

Anyway, i think this completes this story now, but i would like to say tht i will be finishing off Speak Plainly. Got stuck and lost the route on it. Had to have a freind lead me back to the pool

This is for JBlackFFR who would not let me weasal outta this one. Dont thank me, thank her.

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The small man looked confused, as if he had wandered far from whomever was responsible for his care. The small woman would have been more careful, more scared had she not both seen the blue box and known who he was.

"What do you want?" she asked, arms folded, eyes darting back toward the house. He had once again landed in the middle of the rose bed, though there were no second replacements in neon colors to offer any sort of apologies and abatement. This man, this errant misunderstood version of the man she shared her life with, was no more concerned with comfiture as he would be with the anthill his shoe covered.

The man with the grey beard and shocked expression attempted a smile that came across as broken glass beneath bare feet. "I suppose you know me, then?"

Martha nodded but said nothing.

"I've come to..." he started but could not finish. A sigh escaped his lips and he shook his head.

"I know." Martha nodded, turned on her heel and began to walk the distance to the back door. "You'll have to be quiet though." She added holding the back door open for him. "He only sleeps a few hours at a time." She'd never refused them, any of them, not since she was made to understand what they felt...what he felt. It was hard to understand the sudden visit by this version, why he felt the need to come. She hoped he hadn't come for absolution.

He made his way to the table alongside the kitchen's bay window and made a show of sitting. "You know I hadn't even imagined I would come here." He began in a quiet raspy voice. "I was on my way to..."

Martha nodded her encouragement and slid a steaming cup of tea across the table. No matter what face he wore, tea seemed to be his universal invariant. "I know where you are going, Doctor." She said from over her shoulder.

"You seem like you are afraid of me." he said with no accusation.

Martha stopped for a moment;"I'm not..." Martha defended, but pulled her arm quickly to her side when he reached out to touch her. "Scared."

The Doctor nodded solemnly and tucked into his tea. "It's not like I have a choice, you know."

"I am not looking for your confession." Martha said from over her shoulder.

"And I'm not looking for a priest." he said.

"Then why are you here?"

"I came here to see my wife to see..." he turned toward the kitchen door with a look so full of hope that Martha knew instantly what he wanted. "To see if there is anything worth fighting for anymore."

"He's asleep." she repeated. "I try to enjoy what little sleep he gets." If she had thought about it, there was a part of her, a rather large part that was keeping this copy away from her son. Their son. Martha could not figure out why, there was something about the way her husband's face had clouded over when he mentioned him. Once and only once had he ever made mention of the man he had once been. The man who had ended it all.

The Doctor turned to face Martha again, his hands curled defensively. "I am the same man." He insisted quietly.

"That's what scares me." Martha said sitting again across from him. She had produced a plate of food and hoped it would be enough.

He smiled and followed it with a gravelly chuckle. "You are a smart one. Guess it all makes sense then.. You, here." He looked at her then, something in his eyes flashed that same fire that she had seen; as someone standing on the edge of a thousand universes with every secret hidden beneath his smile. She knew he was the same man; there was no doubt in her mind.

"Guess it does." she said. The two let the quiet ease around them in slow spirals. The haze of the afternoon spilled through the window, late spring in the Midlands often offered days that built into fiery crescendos of late afternoon thunderstorms. Martha was quiet for a moment longer and spoke. "What was it like?" she asked, not meeting his eyes. She continued to look out of the large windows next to here, measuring the rain.

"What was what like?" he asked with a loud sip of his tea.

She sighed and squared her shoulders. "The end. When you did it. What was it like?"

HE eyed her over his raised cup and spoke. "We are out of synch my love, i have only been considering it. I have only come to the realization that the end must come to end it."

Martha nodded. "I guess I should be clearer. I have heard so much about Gallifrey. I have even seen images and….holograms. But, I want to know what was it like at the end. I mean," Martha stopped, realized she had affected her husband's talent for the ramble, only where he did it when he was sure of himself; she did it when nervous.

The Doctor let her out of it. "You're wondering what was the proverbial straw, the last thing that I could stand? You want to know…." He stopped, gulped down the last of his tea. You want to know what led me to say 'no more,'"

She nodded, still not meeting his eyes. "I only ask because it has affected him...you...for so long. You never talk about with me. We never…" she stopped there not sure how to go on, again."

He nodded. "The one who forgets and the one who regrets." he sighed then and rolled his hands over his face tiredly. "I have come here because...well she brought me here, but when i came through the doors I knew." He fixed upon her steel grey eyes stormed with emotions his face would not belie. "I assume it's the one that forgets that crawls into bed with you every night."

"Most nights…some nights." She amended. The two shared a smile and Martha could not help but feel a connection with this face. There was something about him that reminded her of her time in UNIT strapped to a detonation device.

"There isn't one thing, Martha. There was no moment of absolute clarity when I grabbed that device and said: 'that's it, I have to end this now. ' It was, a series of things. Gallifrey was no more. Gallifrey had fallen, it was like a mass of iron and steel being held up by a pile of feathers. It was gone, she was gone. All that was left were a lot of memories and a lot of…."

"You will never understand this, Martha, and I pray to god that you never will. Nor him" he pointed off to some far off concept of where Trevor was. "It's a hell of a thing to have to end so many lives. So many children…"

"I do know how you feel right now." She said without giving too much away, "I too was ready to destroy my planet just to rid a threat."

The Doctor cocked his head and studied her face "You did. I can see it in your eyes."

"UNIT made me a soldier; mission first, humanity second. A very dear friend had to remind me of what that feels like."

"Me." He nodded.

"Maybe, I cannot say, Doctor. I do know that from that experience, maybe that is why she brought you here, to see the one person on this planet that knows what you are going through from both ends." It was her turn to place her hand on his. "If there is another way, please think about it."

Martha nodded but chose not to speak, the confession he denied offering was coming fast, and she was prepared for the worst.

"He means to change things." She offered finally refilling his cup. "He means to find another way."

The man shook his head and sighed. "Hindsight is 20/20, my love. I am sure he means for a lot of things to be different. But, as I sit here in this peaceful kitchen a trillion distances away from my own reality, I find it hard to even consider another means out. "

"I had thought that too," she confessed, realizing that she too had never spoke of her own trial by fire. "I stood with humanity's future strapped to my chest and held its detonation in my hands." Martha's voice had become defiant, insistent. "I was ready to pull that trigger, and I am so glad I did not."

"Aren't you clever?" he asked with a sour mouth. "Don't you know better than to try and bend the future? Or am I destined to get more addled in the future, choosing someone who isn't smart enough to know when to shut up."

Martha folded her arms and leaned back. "Ah yes, now I know you are the same person. Pompous much?" she shook her head and answered her own question. "Of course you are, why do I keep being surprised by you? I mean you really are the same person over and over again. Maybe some times you are short, or tall or old. Sometimes I can get a word in edgewise, though most of you have permanent diarrhea of the mouth. "

"OOO that one, the one with the floppy hair and a chin sharpened like a dagger?" he grinned.

Martha rose and poured tea for him then produced a bottle of scotch. Martha brought the bottle and two glasses to the table and poured both near full.

"Have I led you to chase the bottle?" he asked as he sniffed his own glass.

"Are you asking that you in singular or plural?" she smirked.

"If you have to ask," The Doctor said but left the rest floating in the air. Simultaneously they raised their glasses and then downed the contents. The Doctor poured the second round and the two soldiers sat in the darkening kitchen mulling over the silence between them.

A small ardent wail spilled from somewhere in the house, breaking the silence and shooting Martha to her feet. The Doctor raised his hand and pleaded with a alight tip of his head

Martha darted to the doorway of the yellow kitchen and shook her head at the still seated man. "This works." she asserted, "By not involving Trevor in this too much." It had been too soon since her son's abduction in the name of visitation rights.

"You look as if I mean to slaughter and eat him." The Doctor said with a look that did not convince the nervous mother of his sarcasm. For her part, Martha returned his accusation with a look that assured the man at the table that was exactly what she expected him to do. "I know the rules, Martha. I recall them fairly well."

Martha nodded. "I know, it's just…there was an…incident… not too long ago. I am a little bit jumpy about the whole thing." Martha sighed. "I can't tell you too much since it hasn't happened yet"

"I'm sure you know he and me…we are the same, though I am loathe to admit it myself. That floppy haired one with the gob, he has a lot of anger rooting around in him."

Martha nodded in agreement, then remembered basic math"Wait, you came before..." Martha tried to determine where he was in the timeline. "That hasn't…hadn't…willn't….oh to hell with it. How do you know it was him?"

The Doctor smiled and patted her hand. "Don't bust a gasket Martha. Its not worth figuring out. I'm not worth figuring it out."

"Don't you dare say that" she hissed, sitting across from him again. "How can you say such a thing? Because you have had to make choices, to do things that have not been easy? If that is the case, then no one, no one sentient being that has ever existed, is worth it. I refuse to believe that, and I know yuou do too."

"It's more than that my dear." He shook his head, eyes that had borne into her seconds ago, now searched for solace in the murky liquid in front of him.

She flicked his chin with her finger to force him to look into her eyes. "It has taken me a long time to realize." She began, "And a bit of advice to understand that you are all the same man. Do you know what that means?"

"Is this the pep talk?" He asked callously.

Martha shook her head but met his eyes again. "No, I don't want to pep talk you into such a terrible thing, nor do I want to talk you out of it. In fact, I have no dog in this fight, other than the one that comes here to me when he needs me. One thing I know, Doctor. As gruff and tough as you think you are, you need me right now."

He nodded but said nothing. The silence filled the empty parts of the mugs on the table, while Martha gave silent thanks for Trevor having put himself back to sleep. At least for the time being.

"It's not an easy thing, Martha. " he spoke evenly, but his hands shook around the mug. "I am an old man who has done too much and seen too much. I don't want to forget, and I don't wish to regret. "

"Then don't do it." She plead. "Don't walk into that barn and do something that is going to af"fect you for the rest of your lives.

"I have to go and see to him," Martha said after another ardent sound from the infant upstairs.

The Doctor sighed, dismissing her with a wave of his hand as he turned back to his still steaming mug.

"Wait," she asked, one foot on the stairs. "Please don't go anywhere until I get back."

He nodded without turning to look at her. The Doctor took another good sip of whiskey before clearing his throat. Martha wasn't sure what she wanted him to wait for, but she knew what he was waiting for.

Martha paced the floor with Trevor, not sure if it was safe to leave the confines of the child's bedroom. She knew he wasn't particularly a bad man, he was her husband after all; but how much did she really know about this incarnation?

She felt herself gaining strength to go back down; to place in his face the reason he must keep going on. "You ready to go and see a friend?" she asked the still sleepy toddler. Trevor nodded but clutched at her shoulder a little tighter.

When they reached the kitchen, it was empty. "Bloody time lords, you never can keep them in one place." she mumbled to herself. A gland=ce out the window let her know =he was still there, somewhere. The blue box stood in its usual space, crushing Francine Jones's prized rose bushes. She saw him then, standing near the box. His hands were clenched and he seemed to gaze back at the house as if it were a mirage.

Martha grabbed a throw and placed it around Trevor and ran outside. He seemed to not notice her as she advanced to stand right in front of him. For a moment, Martha thought she would have to poke him to get his attention.

"Doctor," she said, hefting Trevor a little higher.

The Doctor's face dissolved into a dazzling smile and he held his hands out. "Come here my little man." He said.

Trevor leaned out of her arms and into the Doctor's. He laid his head onto the man's shoulder and sighed deeply as if he would fall back asleep. "There's a good lad."

Martha stood as the Doctor sang something to Trevor in Gallifreyian. She recalled her husband telling her that it was the one language the TARDIS didn't translate. "Why should she?" he had said when she prodded for an explanation. "It's her default setting."

The silence of the oncoming evening slithered through the solitary notes the man sang to his son. When he finished, he moved to her side and placed the once again sleeping child in her arms. "Wish you could stick around for that every night." She added.

The Doctor shrugged. "Don't know why that buffoon doesn't do it himself." He accused before opening the door. "We were quite good at this, once. Nothing has changed with parenting. Doesn't matter the planet or year or millennia. It's all the same. Give them love, time love, and more love." The Doctor sighed and turned again. "You let me get away with fart too much, Martha."

Martha nodded. "I suppose I do but your first marriage….I figured clipping wings was what ended that one."

The Doctor threw his head back anf laughed. "Is that what he told you?"

Martha shook her head.

He shook his head and moved to enter the TARDIS. "She outgrew me." He offered.

Martha let that sink in, but chose to offer him her own insight. "Doctor, you once told me….the one time you talked about it…there were 2.47 million children on Gallifrey" she said. "Don't think about them."

"My dear, you have no idea how foolish that request sounds." He began.

Martha raised her hand to cut him off. "Whatever happens, whatever decision you make, don't think about them. If you can recall, and I have a feeling there is something special about you, that you do remember unlike the others."

He nodded but did not speak.

"Think about him." Martha finished, darting her eyes to the toddler in her arms. "He is all that matters. If you can't make a decision for an entire planet full of children, then just make a decision for one."

He leaned over and placed a long kiss on her full lips. "Just one." He agreed. The Doctor quirked a smile and bowed low before shutting the door of the ancient ship.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This time she was awake when he climbed into bed, still wearing his shirt and tie. "I love you." He whispered into the darkness.

She felt arms entwine around her and smiled into her pillow. "Of course you do."

"We managed to hide it, Martha. Its done."

"You'll find it again I am sure. Maybe not in this face or this side of eternity, but, it's always there, and you will stand barefoot in the red grass again one day, I know it."

"I remember you helped me; I would have gone and done it and not even thought of a second chance, or rewriting a time line. Martha, you softened me up."

She scooted to his side and placed her legs entwined into his. "I never apologized to you for not accepting all of you. "

The confusion was clear as the Doctor moved forward and sat up. "I don't understand."

"There is a first time for everything." She giggled. "But, me, leaving you for the man in the bow tie. Its affected you. I haven't always been the best wife for you. For that, I am sorry."

The Doctor shrugged again. "Live and learn, Martha. I admit it did affect me, the mes before. But, this one. The me me, I am a very lucky man. You made me see that today. I was able to not do the worst thing a person could have ever done."

"Will we ever get it right?" she asked.

"I think we already have." He smiled and slid back down to take her into his arms. "We learn we fall, we stand, but in the end I have been grateful for one thing since I met you."

Martha tried to make out his features in the dark. "What's that?"

"I will look for Gallifrey; find a way to return her and all of my people. I will get them back. But, since I met you Martha, I am only looking for my planet. With you, I have always been home."