![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Fic: Trust Me (I'm a Lying Liar Who Lies). Chapter 4.
In case you're wondering, then I've got most of this week off - hence the many posts and swift updates. It's bliss, but won't last...
(Chapter 1 for anyone wishing to catch up.)
Summary: In which River is enigmatic, Martha is frustrated, Mickey is intrigued and the Doctor... is a Pond.
Setting: Post-S6 (spoilers for everything aired so far, including First Night/Last Night and The Christmas Special).
Characters: Martha, Mickey, River, the Doctor (11), OCs. (More characters will probably turn up later.)
Word count (this chapter): 2000 approx.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 4
River vanished into the burial mound again, and Martha knew she ought to begin thinking about some sort of strategy, except she felt paralysed. Slowly she became aware of her husband's attempts at getting her attention.
"Martha! Martha! What's the matter? Seriously, talk to me!"
She shifted, trying to adjust the handcuffs - which only made Mickey grunt in discomfort - and then took a deep breath, catching his eyes.
"You know I told you about walking around the world? And how I went to see this woman - Professor Docherty - when I came back to England?"
"Yes..." he said, unsure where she was going, and she bit her lip.
"That whole meeting was all subterfuge - the resistance knew that the Master had taken her son hostage, and we were counting on her betraying me, so I could get up to the Valiant..."
She was rambling, but she couldn’t help it. She felt too shaken to even attempt coherence. "I told her. I mean, we were talking about the Toclafane, but I told her: 'Know your enemy', meaning her although she didn't know it and, and River... the way she said it, it was an exact imitation. Everything - tone, look, everything... But how could she know? Mickey - how could she know?"
He slowly shook his head, and when he spoke his voice was very careful and deliberate and crammed as full of 'Calm down, dearest' as he could muster.
"It was a co-incidence, OK? Martha, you said it yourself: She couldn't know. Co-incidences happen. It’s a pretty standard phrase..."
Turning her head to look at the mound, Martha tried not to shudder.
"I know. But something about that woman is just... Something’s off, something’s wrong, I know it. We can't trust her."
Her voice trailed off, frustrated, as she knew that Mickey wouldn’t understand. Well, he would be very supportive, but he didn't know. It was impossible, and yet... It had felt like a veiled threat - an unmistakable, coded warning, just for her - and what was worse, it had worked. With three words River had made the past swallow her up again: the fear, the uncertainty, the way everyone had looked to her to save them, the helplessness...
She had been so alone. And this time the Doctor wasn’t ever going to come...
(Stop. Breathe. She was Martha Jones. She had walked the Earth and seen the end of the universe and she had laughed in the Master’s face. And... she wasn’t alone anymore.)
Once more back in control she looked at her husband, shoving all her worries away until later and focussing squarely on the present.
"Fine. How do we get out of these handcuffs then?"
"I don't think we can," Mickey said slowly. "And, like I was saying before, River seems to be helping this Silurian thing-"
He stopped as the look on her face must have conveyed her feelings pretty clearly. But then - Martha breathed a sigh of relief - Doctor Roberts reappeared from the archeologists’ camp.
He walked up, calling out: "Doctor Song? I was wondering-" and then stopped dead in his tracks as he took in Martha and Mickey's predicament, staring at them with undiluted astonishment.
"Hold on a minute, what's going on?" he exclaimed, and Martha leaned forward and whispered, as loudly as she dared.
"Just- help us out of these, and I'll explain!"
Of course it wasn't that simple, since the man couldn't just run off and fetch some kind of implement capable of breaking handcuffs - he had to shake his head and demand explanations, and Martha had the very familiar feeling (which she remembered seeing on the Doctor's face many a time) of desperately wishing that sometimes people would just do as they were told, and let her explain later.
She was halfway through swiftly whispered highlights before she realised that River was now standing behind Doctor Roberts.
Martha abruptly closed her mouth, and the man whirled around to see what she was looking at, as River slowly closed the lipstick she had been applying, before returning it - and a small compact mirror - to one of the pockets on her belt.
"Don't mind me," she said lightly, "you're clearly busy."
"D-Doctor Song," the archeologist stammered, and she suddenly smiled, eyes dancing.
"Doctor Roberts," she countered, stepping forwards and gently taking hold of the lapels of his jacket, "trust me, this won't hurt a bit!"
And then, without any kind of warning, she kissed him.
As she pulled away, he stared at her with a dazed kind of look, which Martha couldn't blame him for. River studied him levelly.
"OK, here's what's going on: Just as you suspected, your dig is actually alien. And in a little while the aliens - they're green and from Mars - are going to come and take it back home. Understood?"
A slow smile spread across Roberts’ face.
"I knew it!"
Martha could feel her anger return ten-fold, because she could tell that this wasn’t natural - the way his eyes had glazed over and the sudden acquiescence were more than enough proof for her trained eye.
"What did you do to him?" she asked, and River smiled, utterly unconcerned.
"Hallucinogenic lipstick," she said; and then added, with a wink: "Would you like to try it?"
Martha just glared daggers, but Mickey cleared his throat.
"Look, are you going to explain what's happening? I mean - I'd like to know that you're actually doing, since we only have your word that you’re trying to sort stuff out, yeah? So what’s this about Martians?"
River studied him with an appreciative look, as she pulled out her communicator, and then - finger hovering over the display - shrugged and looked at Mickey with a smile.
"Well, we had a bit of a talk, and I've managed to hire some contractors to move the dig to the moon - a simple procedure using an H2O scoop, as I'm sure Martha is aware - and it can sit there in peace and quiet until I have the time to take closer look. And, of course, our Silurian friend can come along to keep watch over his ancestors. Shouldn't be long now. Speed is rather of the essence after all..."
She turned as Professor Pond reappeared, her easy smile becoming somewhat stifled, although he seemed somewhat subdued now, momentarily looking over his shoulder at the Silurian with something like worry in his eyes.
"Professor,” River began briskly, “I was wondering - would you mind looking after our colleague here? I'm not sure how he'll deal with..." She waved a hand vaguely - presumably to indicate 'Martians' or whatever the contractors were - and the Professor's demeanor immediately turned petulant.
"I don't see why-" he started, as the archeologist suddenly threw a hand over his mouth.
"A Martian! And he's all green!"
Professor Pond rolled his eyes, looking at River with open annoyance.
"You know, that lipstick is a clear breach of the rules of conduct-"
"And so is stealing an entire dig!" River cut in. "Do you want to leave the burial mound here? With him?"
Before the Professor could answer, she continued: "This way, he'll talk about little green men, the UNIT people will come galloping along, scan for unknown technology, decide this it was all aliens and do the cleanup operation for us!"
She smirked, and patted his shoulder.
"No need to say it - I know I'm brilliant."
"I think you're horrible!" Martha said, and River sighed.
"And don't talk to the hostages!"
The Professor opened his mouth, and River held up a warning hand.
“Unless you want to be cuffed too? I didn’t ask for you to come, and quite frankly having you here, breathing down my neck, is not helping!”
For a moment they glowered at each other, the tension so heavy that Martha was sure she could have reached out and touched it if she hadn’t been all tied up, but then the Professor angrily turned and sat down on a nearby rock, crossing his arms, defiantly silent.
With one last look of warning, River turned on her heel, her communicator clamped to her ear, as she walked back to the Silurian which was looming threateningly by the burial mound.
Doctor Roberts gingerly seated himself next to the Professor on the large rock, continually staring at him.
"I've never met an alien before," he said slowly. "What's it like being green? Is Mars nice?"
Professor Pond sighed deeply, and rubbed his face. It was possible he muttered something about 'bloody, impossible women' but Martha couldn't quite make it out. Looking up again, he studied Roberts tiredly.
"Mars is lovely - especially this time of year. And being green is marvellous - although the kids tend to get lost when we go on a picnic in the woods."
Doctor Roberts nodded solemnly, and Martha frowned, ignoring the tell-tale flash of someone appearing by teleportation.
"Is he going to be OK?" she asked, and Professor Pond quickly looked over to where Doctor Song was now talking to what Martha presumed was a contractor - the creature was wearing a bright yellow spacesuit, looking mostly like it'd come from a JCB factory.
Seeing that River was preoccupied with the new arrival, Professor Pond nodded.
"The side effects are minimal. He'll need a good sleep in a little while, but then he'll be right as rain."
More contractors appeared, and Martha wondered if she should grab this opportunity, but as she opened her mouth, Professor Pond shook his head.
"I'm not going to help you. She's far scarier than you."
He indicated River with his head, and Martha sighed in frustration. Mickey however chuckled.
"Bet your wife is a lot nicer, yeah?" he asked, and a bright, happy smile suddenly appeared on the Professor's face, transforming it completely. Martha decided that she couldn't be too angry with someone so clearly smitten.
"Oh my Melody, she's..."
"Is she green too?" Doctor Roberts cut in excitedly, and River turned, frowning.
"No talking!"
Professor Pond glared and clamped his mouth shut, as River began introducing the contractors to the Silurian. After some discussions which they couldn’t quite hear, the Silurian was suited up in a bright yellow spacesuit of its own and vanished. Doctor Roberts, who’d been following events avidly, leaned against Professor Pond, said 'Aliens!' one final time, and promptly began to snore.
The contractors were still running around looking busy, now and again consulting with River, before the leader shook her hand, and they all zapped back to where-ever they’d come from. Martha - figuring that events were beginning to wrap up - suddenly began to worry about what would happen to her and Mickey. She’d have to make sure to keep Professor Pond around for long enough to ensure their safe passage...
Then her attention was caught by River stepping back as a dark cloud hovered into view, slowly settling over the burial mound, and Martha watched in silent fascination as rain began raining upwards, before the whole mound slowly detached itself from the ground. How did that even work?
She thought that maybe she could ask the Professor about it (before somehow segueing the conversation into 'Please make sure Doctor Song lets us go' - which hopefully shouldn't be hard, considering their very obvious antipathy), but she turned to see him gently laying Doctor Roberts down on the rock before walking up to River, hands behind his back, studying the H20 scoop silently until it vanished.
"Well that didn't go too badly,' he said, and she half-turned to him, raising an eyebrow.
"See how smoothly things go when you let me be in charge?"
"Smoothly?" he echoed, musingly. "I'm not sure that 'smoothly' is the word I'd use about handcuffs and drugs..."
A rather wicked smile formed on her face, the coiled tension clearly having vanished along with the mound.
"True. Normally I'd call that the start of a good night!"
Turning to study her, a look Martha couldn't quite work out crossed his face.
"That reminds me... I seem to recall that we were having rather a good night before you decided to run off to deal with ancient burials..."
"So we were," River replied, voice like molasses and eyes trailing over him in a way which wasn't just unexpected, but borderline indecent. "Where did we get to?"
"Oh just about here..." Professor Pond said, and all of a sudden there was not the faintest hint left of the facetious, awkward academic, as he with one deft move wrapped his arm around River’s waist, pulling her flush against him, and with the other hand cupped her face - before leaning in and kissing her deeply, with the kind of thoroughness that spoke of deep familiarity.
Martha, unsure whether to laugh or cry or swear, simply let her head fall heavily against the tree.
Chapter 5
(Chapter 1 for anyone wishing to catch up.)
Summary: In which River is enigmatic, Martha is frustrated, Mickey is intrigued and the Doctor... is a Pond.
Setting: Post-S6 (spoilers for everything aired so far, including First Night/Last Night and The Christmas Special).
Characters: Martha, Mickey, River, the Doctor (11), OCs. (More characters will probably turn up later.)
Word count (this chapter): 2000 approx.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
River vanished into the burial mound again, and Martha knew she ought to begin thinking about some sort of strategy, except she felt paralysed. Slowly she became aware of her husband's attempts at getting her attention.
"Martha! Martha! What's the matter? Seriously, talk to me!"
She shifted, trying to adjust the handcuffs - which only made Mickey grunt in discomfort - and then took a deep breath, catching his eyes.
"You know I told you about walking around the world? And how I went to see this woman - Professor Docherty - when I came back to England?"
"Yes..." he said, unsure where she was going, and she bit her lip.
"That whole meeting was all subterfuge - the resistance knew that the Master had taken her son hostage, and we were counting on her betraying me, so I could get up to the Valiant..."
She was rambling, but she couldn’t help it. She felt too shaken to even attempt coherence. "I told her. I mean, we were talking about the Toclafane, but I told her: 'Know your enemy', meaning her although she didn't know it and, and River... the way she said it, it was an exact imitation. Everything - tone, look, everything... But how could she know? Mickey - how could she know?"
He slowly shook his head, and when he spoke his voice was very careful and deliberate and crammed as full of 'Calm down, dearest' as he could muster.
"It was a co-incidence, OK? Martha, you said it yourself: She couldn't know. Co-incidences happen. It’s a pretty standard phrase..."
Turning her head to look at the mound, Martha tried not to shudder.
"I know. But something about that woman is just... Something’s off, something’s wrong, I know it. We can't trust her."
Her voice trailed off, frustrated, as she knew that Mickey wouldn’t understand. Well, he would be very supportive, but he didn't know. It was impossible, and yet... It had felt like a veiled threat - an unmistakable, coded warning, just for her - and what was worse, it had worked. With three words River had made the past swallow her up again: the fear, the uncertainty, the way everyone had looked to her to save them, the helplessness...
She had been so alone. And this time the Doctor wasn’t ever going to come...
(Stop. Breathe. She was Martha Jones. She had walked the Earth and seen the end of the universe and she had laughed in the Master’s face. And... she wasn’t alone anymore.)
Once more back in control she looked at her husband, shoving all her worries away until later and focussing squarely on the present.
"Fine. How do we get out of these handcuffs then?"
"I don't think we can," Mickey said slowly. "And, like I was saying before, River seems to be helping this Silurian thing-"
He stopped as the look on her face must have conveyed her feelings pretty clearly. But then - Martha breathed a sigh of relief - Doctor Roberts reappeared from the archeologists’ camp.
He walked up, calling out: "Doctor Song? I was wondering-" and then stopped dead in his tracks as he took in Martha and Mickey's predicament, staring at them with undiluted astonishment.
"Hold on a minute, what's going on?" he exclaimed, and Martha leaned forward and whispered, as loudly as she dared.
"Just- help us out of these, and I'll explain!"
Of course it wasn't that simple, since the man couldn't just run off and fetch some kind of implement capable of breaking handcuffs - he had to shake his head and demand explanations, and Martha had the very familiar feeling (which she remembered seeing on the Doctor's face many a time) of desperately wishing that sometimes people would just do as they were told, and let her explain later.
She was halfway through swiftly whispered highlights before she realised that River was now standing behind Doctor Roberts.
Martha abruptly closed her mouth, and the man whirled around to see what she was looking at, as River slowly closed the lipstick she had been applying, before returning it - and a small compact mirror - to one of the pockets on her belt.
"Don't mind me," she said lightly, "you're clearly busy."
"D-Doctor Song," the archeologist stammered, and she suddenly smiled, eyes dancing.
"Doctor Roberts," she countered, stepping forwards and gently taking hold of the lapels of his jacket, "trust me, this won't hurt a bit!"
And then, without any kind of warning, she kissed him.
As she pulled away, he stared at her with a dazed kind of look, which Martha couldn't blame him for. River studied him levelly.
"OK, here's what's going on: Just as you suspected, your dig is actually alien. And in a little while the aliens - they're green and from Mars - are going to come and take it back home. Understood?"
A slow smile spread across Roberts’ face.
"I knew it!"
Martha could feel her anger return ten-fold, because she could tell that this wasn’t natural - the way his eyes had glazed over and the sudden acquiescence were more than enough proof for her trained eye.
"What did you do to him?" she asked, and River smiled, utterly unconcerned.
"Hallucinogenic lipstick," she said; and then added, with a wink: "Would you like to try it?"
Martha just glared daggers, but Mickey cleared his throat.
"Look, are you going to explain what's happening? I mean - I'd like to know that you're actually doing, since we only have your word that you’re trying to sort stuff out, yeah? So what’s this about Martians?"
River studied him with an appreciative look, as she pulled out her communicator, and then - finger hovering over the display - shrugged and looked at Mickey with a smile.
"Well, we had a bit of a talk, and I've managed to hire some contractors to move the dig to the moon - a simple procedure using an H2O scoop, as I'm sure Martha is aware - and it can sit there in peace and quiet until I have the time to take closer look. And, of course, our Silurian friend can come along to keep watch over his ancestors. Shouldn't be long now. Speed is rather of the essence after all..."
She turned as Professor Pond reappeared, her easy smile becoming somewhat stifled, although he seemed somewhat subdued now, momentarily looking over his shoulder at the Silurian with something like worry in his eyes.
"Professor,” River began briskly, “I was wondering - would you mind looking after our colleague here? I'm not sure how he'll deal with..." She waved a hand vaguely - presumably to indicate 'Martians' or whatever the contractors were - and the Professor's demeanor immediately turned petulant.
"I don't see why-" he started, as the archeologist suddenly threw a hand over his mouth.
"A Martian! And he's all green!"
Professor Pond rolled his eyes, looking at River with open annoyance.
"You know, that lipstick is a clear breach of the rules of conduct-"
"And so is stealing an entire dig!" River cut in. "Do you want to leave the burial mound here? With him?"
Before the Professor could answer, she continued: "This way, he'll talk about little green men, the UNIT people will come galloping along, scan for unknown technology, decide this it was all aliens and do the cleanup operation for us!"
She smirked, and patted his shoulder.
"No need to say it - I know I'm brilliant."
"I think you're horrible!" Martha said, and River sighed.
"And don't talk to the hostages!"
The Professor opened his mouth, and River held up a warning hand.
“Unless you want to be cuffed too? I didn’t ask for you to come, and quite frankly having you here, breathing down my neck, is not helping!”
For a moment they glowered at each other, the tension so heavy that Martha was sure she could have reached out and touched it if she hadn’t been all tied up, but then the Professor angrily turned and sat down on a nearby rock, crossing his arms, defiantly silent.
With one last look of warning, River turned on her heel, her communicator clamped to her ear, as she walked back to the Silurian which was looming threateningly by the burial mound.
Doctor Roberts gingerly seated himself next to the Professor on the large rock, continually staring at him.
"I've never met an alien before," he said slowly. "What's it like being green? Is Mars nice?"
Professor Pond sighed deeply, and rubbed his face. It was possible he muttered something about 'bloody, impossible women' but Martha couldn't quite make it out. Looking up again, he studied Roberts tiredly.
"Mars is lovely - especially this time of year. And being green is marvellous - although the kids tend to get lost when we go on a picnic in the woods."
Doctor Roberts nodded solemnly, and Martha frowned, ignoring the tell-tale flash of someone appearing by teleportation.
"Is he going to be OK?" she asked, and Professor Pond quickly looked over to where Doctor Song was now talking to what Martha presumed was a contractor - the creature was wearing a bright yellow spacesuit, looking mostly like it'd come from a JCB factory.
Seeing that River was preoccupied with the new arrival, Professor Pond nodded.
"The side effects are minimal. He'll need a good sleep in a little while, but then he'll be right as rain."
More contractors appeared, and Martha wondered if she should grab this opportunity, but as she opened her mouth, Professor Pond shook his head.
"I'm not going to help you. She's far scarier than you."
He indicated River with his head, and Martha sighed in frustration. Mickey however chuckled.
"Bet your wife is a lot nicer, yeah?" he asked, and a bright, happy smile suddenly appeared on the Professor's face, transforming it completely. Martha decided that she couldn't be too angry with someone so clearly smitten.
"Oh my Melody, she's..."
"Is she green too?" Doctor Roberts cut in excitedly, and River turned, frowning.
"No talking!"
Professor Pond glared and clamped his mouth shut, as River began introducing the contractors to the Silurian. After some discussions which they couldn’t quite hear, the Silurian was suited up in a bright yellow spacesuit of its own and vanished. Doctor Roberts, who’d been following events avidly, leaned against Professor Pond, said 'Aliens!' one final time, and promptly began to snore.
The contractors were still running around looking busy, now and again consulting with River, before the leader shook her hand, and they all zapped back to where-ever they’d come from. Martha - figuring that events were beginning to wrap up - suddenly began to worry about what would happen to her and Mickey. She’d have to make sure to keep Professor Pond around for long enough to ensure their safe passage...
Then her attention was caught by River stepping back as a dark cloud hovered into view, slowly settling over the burial mound, and Martha watched in silent fascination as rain began raining upwards, before the whole mound slowly detached itself from the ground. How did that even work?
She thought that maybe she could ask the Professor about it (before somehow segueing the conversation into 'Please make sure Doctor Song lets us go' - which hopefully shouldn't be hard, considering their very obvious antipathy), but she turned to see him gently laying Doctor Roberts down on the rock before walking up to River, hands behind his back, studying the H20 scoop silently until it vanished.
"Well that didn't go too badly,' he said, and she half-turned to him, raising an eyebrow.
"See how smoothly things go when you let me be in charge?"
"Smoothly?" he echoed, musingly. "I'm not sure that 'smoothly' is the word I'd use about handcuffs and drugs..."
A rather wicked smile formed on her face, the coiled tension clearly having vanished along with the mound.
"True. Normally I'd call that the start of a good night!"
Turning to study her, a look Martha couldn't quite work out crossed his face.
"That reminds me... I seem to recall that we were having rather a good night before you decided to run off to deal with ancient burials..."
"So we were," River replied, voice like molasses and eyes trailing over him in a way which wasn't just unexpected, but borderline indecent. "Where did we get to?"
"Oh just about here..." Professor Pond said, and all of a sudden there was not the faintest hint left of the facetious, awkward academic, as he with one deft move wrapped his arm around River’s waist, pulling her flush against him, and with the other hand cupped her face - before leaning in and kissing her deeply, with the kind of thoroughness that spoke of deep familiarity.
Martha, unsure whether to laugh or cry or swear, simply let her head fall heavily against the tree.
Chapter 5
no subject
That's not all is it? That can't be all! More please.
I love the inclusion of the H20 scoop, cool idea. Were the technicians Judoon? Why would a Silurian agree to letting his burial mound be taken to the moon? Wouldn't he insist on staying on Earth? What's he going to do on the moon.
And how is Martha and Mickey going to act when they realize this is the Doctor. The Doctor, kissing the sexy, gun toting, scary woman?
(I'm envisioning fistbumps from Mickey, and lots of hugs and recriminations from Martha. With both woman agreeing he's imppossible.)
Can't wait for more. Lovely story so far, and very well told. I would never have thought of 11 going back to see the alienhunting Martha and Mickey.
no subject
\o/ Thank you!
That's not all is it? That can't be all! More please.
Oh there's as much again. At least. (I... don't do short.)
I love the inclusion of the H20 scoop, cool idea. Were the technicians Judoon? Why would a Silurian agree to letting his burial mound be taken to the moon? Wouldn't he insist on staying on Earth? What's he going to do on the moon.
I will explain stuff, but the viewpoint so far as been rather restricted. Although I guess I can reveal that the contractors are Silurians, which is why 'our' Silurian trusts them and goes with them.
And how is Martha and Mickey going to act when they realize this is the Doctor. The Doctor, kissing the sexy, gun toting, scary woman?
I have mentioned that I am having ENDLESS fun writing this, right? And one main thing is just how much things have changed...
(I'm envisioning fistbumps from Mickey, and lots of hugs and recriminations from Martha. With both woman agreeing he's imppossible.)
Oh there's far more than that going on. *is mysterious*
Can't wait for more. Lovely story so far, and very well told.
Oh, I don't get tired of hearing that - thank you again. And more is coming, don't worry. :)
I would never have thought of 11 going back to see the alienhunting Martha and Mickey.
Really? I can't remember if I mentioned it earlier, but this all came from one daft little idea, which I decided to develop and which then GREW beyond all recognition...