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Martha was having a flat warming party. And wasn’t that funny? She’d had one before, back when she’d first moved into her old flat as a Student Doctor. That one had pretty much just been an excuse for her and her friends to get hammered, though.
This one was more “proper”, for lack of a better term. It was a nice flat, ground floor (she liked to know where her exits were), and near enough to the UNIT headquarters that she only had to take 2 tubes. Overall, it was nice. She had a new car, too. A smaller one than before, but it was appropriate, especially since she didn’t intend to drive to work.
She’d done enough driving, frankly.
All in all, it was a nice flat.
The invited party was a bit strange. Her Mother, her Father, Tish, Leo, his daughter and his girlfriend, Jack and his whole team, Tom (they had decided to not get a shared flat, since it was still pretty early in the relationship). She’d considered inviting some of her University friends, but it felt a bit awkward. It’s not like she can go back to being ‘Student Doctor Martha Jones’. She was Doctor Jones, or just Martha.
Admittedly, only Jack, Mum, Dad, and Tish actually knew the truth of the matter. But Leo knew something big had happened, and the rest of them really only knew Martha after the Doctor, so she didn’t have to play normality any more than she normally did around her family.
She was Martha Jones, after all.
The doorbell chimed through her new flat, a soft melody that reminded her of a robin. She startled, and a hand reached her neck, before she remembered the soft blue sofa she sat on and the cream walls opposite her. Home. Safe.
Martha took a deep breath, and opened the door.
“Tom!” a genuine smile settled on her face upon seeing him, and he held out a bunch of red and yellow roses.
“Martha,” he smiled in response, “may I come in?”
She giggled, and took the flowers, making sure that the door was open wide, “you may”
The roses were taken into the kitchen, but before Martha was able to rummage through her cupboards for a vase, she heard a knock on the door.
5 knocks, a pattern familiar from Primary School, “oh! That’ll be Leo!” She laid the flowers on the kitchen counter, and smoothed down her dress. It was a pale yellow cocktail dress, which reminded her slightly of her stint in the 1960s. It was new, along with almost all the rest of her wardrobe. Not much survived the explosion.
She shook her head, and idly noticed how Tom began the search for a vase, when she went back into the hallway.
The door swung open, and Martha fixed a big smile on her face, to greet her little brother and his own family.
“Keisha!” she bent down and waved at her niece, before standing up fully, “Leo, Maisie, please come in.”
It was an awkward fit, attempting to get the buggy through the doorframe, but Maisie and Leo succeeded, while Martha tried to not wince as it hit her freshly painted doorframe.
She led them into the lounge, even though it was pretty easy to locate, since the only choices were the open kitchen/lounge door, or the shut bathroom and bedroom doors.
It was only when they got into the lounge, a she saw Tom had set the flowers in a vase on the coffee table, that she realised that Tom had never met Leo.
He met Mum and Dad- they wanted to ‘vet’ him, but the rest of Martha’s family would all be new.
Part of her registered that that would be awkward for him, but most of her had faith in him. He’d died for her, after all.
“Tom, this is Leo- my brother, and his daughter, Keisha, and his girlfriend, Maisie,” Tom held his hand out and shook theirs in turn, “and this is Tom, my partner.”
Before the awkwardness of the situation fully set in, the doorbell rang once more, and Martha swept out of the room.
Owen Harper was stood there. Martha ignored the guilt that settled in her gut when she saw his pallid, bloodless face. He was also alone, and Martha tried desperately to push back the rising nausea in her gut, the feeling that screamed ‘something is wrong!’
“Doctor Martha Jones, happy flat warming,” he said it in his typical dry tone, and held a green leafy plant out to her, seated in a pale yellow pot, that matched her dress.
“Oh!” She was a bit taken aback, but recovered quickly, “thank you, Doctor Owen Harper.
She took the plant, and looked at it uncertainly.
“Sit it on the window, and water it once a day. It should have purple flowers.”
She nodded, and showed him into the lounge, before she immediately dipped into her bedroom, whispering the excuse, “I’ll put it on my windowsill”
Martha placed the pot down, and some part of her registered how the sun caught the leaves. She slumped against the wall, back leaning against the pale grey paint that had been there since before she moved in.
Her chest was rising and falling at a rate that the Doctor part of her brain registered as concerning, and she dug her nails into her palms.
She could hear Owen, and his introduction, and the way he carefully avoided any mention of why he and Martha had met, other than that they were both Doctors.
She should ask where Jack was. Where Jack and the others were. She should ask what kind of plant that was. She should go and be a good host, for her little party.
Instead, she sat down on the floor, feeling the cool wall through the thin fabric of her party dress.
Martha Jones took a deep breath, and steeled her nerves, pulling the Tardis key out of the pocket of her dress, sighing as her thumb ran over the cool metal.
It still felt strange to not wear it everyday, despite the time that had passed.
Gradually, her breathing returned to normal, and Martha moved to stand, when she heard a knock on her door- her bedroom door, this time.
She stood up, slipping the key into her pocket, and patting her hair in its bun.
“Come in,” her voice was a touch shaky, but hopefully not noticeably
“Just me,” Owen stepped in, and nodded at the plant on the window, “Jack wanted me to give his apologies, him and Tosh are running late, something to do with a sentient computer virus?”
He laughed slightly, a bitter chuckle that she knew all too well.
“Thanks, right. Gwen and Ianto?” She asked, unsure of how to respond. It was like Jack to be late because he was saving the world, so she couldn’t exactly complain.
“Gwen wanted to get wine, but the first bottle got shattered in a,” he lowered his voice, “incident. Of the alien variety.”
Martha chuckled, lifting her hand to her mouth, “of course. You Torchwood folk can’t ever catch a break, can you?”
He shook his head, “seems not. Anyway, she’s making Ianto go to every shop in London, I swear. Needs to get the right bottle. He’s about as committed to this as she is though.”
He smirked, as if the mere idea was stupid, but his care for his teammates infused his voice.
“I guess he cares as much for wine as he does for a fancy suit? He’s quite an avant garde man.” Martha smiled faintly at her own joke, where Owen just looked confused.
Then, the doorbell rang.
“Once more onto the breach,” Owen commented, and Martha returned to her front door, as he returned to those who had already arrived.
She opened the door, smile fixed on her face, “Mum! Tish!”
Francine wrapped her daughter in a hug, and Martha’s smile turned real, as she clutched her Mum in response.
When they separated, Tish handed Martha a bag for life, stacked full of tupperwares, filled with Francine’s own cooking.
Martha wrapped her hands around the handle, the coarse texture a strange comfort, when Tish handed her something else.
She almost dropped the bag in her haste, but remembered to hold on with her left hand, as she took the book in her right.
She giggled, a genuine laugh. Tish had given her a Twilight ‘Behind the Scenes’. You talk about liking a series one time!
“Thank you. Tom is already here, Tish please be nice!”
Tish only smiled in response, and Martha sighed, before she stepped to the side, and showed the pair into the lounge. Leo smiled broadly, and wrapped them both in a large hug.
Owen hung awkwardly, as Tom introduced himself to the second of Martha’s siblings, while Martha filled her new fridge with seemingly every single dish her mum knew how to cook.
Martha moved to introduce him, when the doorbell buzzed.
“That’ll be Dad?”
No one responded, but she was proven correct when she opened the door, and her dad stood opposite to her.
This time, she initiated the hug, which was eagerly returned.
That was everyone except for Torchwood. Well, the rest of Torchwood.
She followed the motions of introductions, and smiled upon seeing how Owen and Tom were discussing the football. As far as she knew, Tom didn’t actually care for the football, but she was still glad they had something to talk about.
Francine was chatting with Maisie and Keisha, and Tish was talking with Leo and Clive. Good. Right.
She should probably go and talk to someone.
Instead, she checked that the snacks were fine on the table, and recounted the exact amount of cups.
Part of Martha realised that it probably wasn’t healthy to treat party hosting like a military objective, but most of her was just glad to have something to do.
She had, in fact, set up the correct amount of cups. And the crisps were sat neatly in their bowls. And the biscuits were laid out on plates.
Everything was fine. In order and sorted.
The doorbell chimed, and Martha started, half a second away from panic.
Right. The door.
She stood up straight, and swung it open. Ianto and Gwen were stood there, halfway inbetween some form of debate, “Ianto, I am telling you- Martha! Happy flatwarming.”
Gwen’s voice was chirpy and matched the smile on her face, as she handed Martha a very posh looking bottle of champagne.
“Oh! Thank you very much,” she took the bottle, and smiled weakly at the pair.
“Very sorry that we’re late,” Ianto started, “there was an issue.”
“Don’t worry about it, Owen explained.”
Both of them looked relieved, Ianto in one of his many suits, with a pale blue tie, and Gwen in a leather jacket that Martha swore she owned an identical copy of.
“Anyway, come in! My family is in the lounge, along with Tom and Owen,” she paused, “any news from Jack and Tosh?”
Gwen looked sympathetic, “no, sorry. I’ll enjoy meeting more Jones, though!”
Martha nodded, and beckoned the two into the room, before excusing herself into the connected kitchen, to put the champagne into the fridge. They could have a toast once everyone was here, maybe?
She lent against the tiles, and took in a deep breath. She hadn’t felt this off for a long while.
It was a big step, she supposed. Her therapist that UNIT provided would say that it was a reminder of what she’d lost, and that that was a big deal.
She’d ran out of the last session because Tish had called, which was probably not the best attitude.
But, the reason she left the Doctor was for her family. That, and she just couldn’t deal with that lifestyle anymore. Not after Harold Saxon.
Once everyone was here, she could feel more settled. There wouldn’t be anymore waiting. She didn’t like to be idle.
She could do a tour, but without Jack and Tosh that would just be a bit odd. Aliens really were always messing up her flats.
Okay, admittedly, it wasn’t really her flat being damaged this time, just the flat warming.
Still.
She clapped her hands together, still as uncomfortable with hosting and parties as she had been as a child, and her Mum made her and Tish help out.
“So, who’s up for some charades?”
It turned out, Gwen was really good at charades. Both the guessing and the acting. If she hadn’t gone into alien hunting, she could’ve made an excellent actress.
Although, the level of intensity that she approached the guessing with was almost intimidating.
Apparently they did game nights at Torchwood sometimes, but it never went well, because Jack always cheated, and Gwen got too invested. At least, according to Ianto. Martha found that pretty easy to believe, at least.
Ianto was acting out Sex in the City (a dare from Owen, Gwen said), when there was a short rap at the door.
She got up, brushed her dress, and found herself genuinely comfortable, as she opened the door.
“Tosh! You look well,” she smiled at the technician, who returned one in kind.
“As do you,” Toshiko replied, her laptop tucked under her arm, “that dress is lovely!”
“Thank you. It was from the new boutique just one road over- they sell vintage inspired clothes”
Toshiko nodded, “Jack’s just parking the SUV. It’s a bit large for these roads.”
“So- alien computer virus?” Martha dropped her voice to a whisper, and Tosh’s eyes lit up as she explained the intricacies of the case.
It was while they had that discussion that Jack appeared, a testament to how Martha’s nerves had calmed that she didn’t even hear him.
He placed his hand on Tosh’s shoulder, “couldn’t do anything without my favourite genius, could I?” He grinned, the megawatt grin that was now long familiar, “and how is Doctor Martha Jones?”
“All the better now that you’re here! I think my family is regretting playing charades with Gwen.”
Jack laughed, and wrapped his arms around her in a hug, “their own fault for challenging her, really.”
She let them into the lounge, hearing Keisha’s young voice cheer, “The Little Mermaid!!”
“Everyone’s made it,” Martha said, by way of introduction.
Jack had, of course, already met all of her family, which meant that all the Jones’ (and Tom’s) eyes turned to Toshiko, stood beside him.
“This is Tosh, she works with Jack,”
“Oi!” Owen interrupted
“I am the boss,” Jack grinned, “and I hear you all made the mistake of charades with Gwen?”
They moved into the main part of the room, and Ianto chuckled faintly, “at least she doesn’t cheat.”
“Well I never,” he scoffed, mock offence dripping with each word.
“Do we get the tour now?” Leo spoke, thankfully preventing the Torchwood banter from getting too far.
“Right,” she opened her arms to gesture to the space around them, “this is the lounge, as I’m sure you figured out!”
This was all a bit awkward, if Martha was honest. It was a lot of ‘yes I’m fine now, don’t worry about me’. Of course, that was only for those who remembered, but still. They were all so busy worrying about each other, Martha couldn’t help but feel as if they were forgetting to actually live this year. Even if they had, technically, already done that.
The tour was, mercifully, short. Lounge and kitchen, which everyone had already seen. Bathroom- including a bath, that had been one of her non-negotiables. It was a good place to relax. Bedroom, which was fairly simple.
All in all, it was a nice flat, bigger than her previous one, and hopefully not under threat from any explosions or politicians.
Everyone seemed to agree, which was good. With the first bit, that was. Again, she hadn’t felt particularly up to explaining the loss of her previous flat to anyone who wasn’t around at the time.
She’d noticed Jack checking out her windows, and the entryway door. Presumably looking for easy exits. Something she had already considered, but it was hardly surprising. He’d been a soldier even before the doctor, after all.
Once they were all back in the lounge, seated, snacking, and chatting, Martha felt herself slump into her seat, limbs flopping slightly from relaxation.
It was good to have everyone together.