A/N. Here, have another story, my beauties! With a bit of rather upset Martha (not for long!), more than a bit of Jack (because there can never be enough of him)… and a great deal of Ten/Rose (not exactly in this chapter, but…) :) Please, let me know what you think!

No Time Like the Present

Chapter One

"Don't you think you should let go of all this mess? Relax a bit?" Martha suggested kindly, after they have returned from yet another adventure. Although peace had been reached, no blood had been shed, the Doctor was uncharacteristically gloomy. The last thing he needed was letting go. Although the Time Lord believed having the brilliant Martha Jones do the things she'd suggested him would only do good for her.

"I could send you to some pleasure planet, if you'd like, Martha." The Time Lord could see the soon-to-be-doctor was exhausted. He knew he should apologise for having put her through all that. His behaviour hadn't been fair towards her – never allowing her to have the much-needed rest and putting the bigger part of work in her hands, while he had been lost in his thoughts more than ever.

"Me? You're kidding, Doctor."

"Yes, you! As for me, I've got Rose to hold on to," the Doctor rolled his eyes at his companion the moment she glared at him incredulously.

"Rose?" Again? His mental state seemed to have been deteriorating at a terrifying rate – it had become clear to the companion some weeks ago, with the constant upswings and downfalls in the Time Lord's mood Martha had recently stopped taking as behaviour absolutely natural for the Doctor. It seemed, every now and then, that he was on the verge of losing his mind, often because of trivial reasons, such as the ship not listening to his orders immediately or landing them further than the Doctor had intended. Running out of bananas was a very unpleasant experience, but she'd take that over the majority of other instances. Especially over the ones including anything related to Rose. Always Rose. Always trouble, whenever he says her name. It was as if she were some mysterious deity. An evil deity.

Martha has learnt to be particularly careful, whenever addressing the painful subject. "I'm so sorry, Doctor. You need to wake up for once! Your Rose is dead and gone… for how long, already?" Martha was getting more and more exasperated every time that name escaped the Time Lord's lips. It always, always meant some kind of trouble.

"She's not dead. Gone, perhaps… but not for long now."

"How so?" The companion knew almost nothing of this Rose, other than the Doctor was no less than obsessed with her. Martha was not certain if she'd like to meet her, even if such a possibility weren't but lovesick Time Lord's ramblings. But his determination interested her.

"I'll get her back," he snapped. "Whatever it takes." Martha was a brilliant companion, but she had no inborn understanding of how things must be… unlike Rose.

The companion spoke as softly as she could. "Can't she get back to you herself? Or perhaps she doesn't want to?"

She could see his face transforming into a mask of cold hatred the next moment, and she shuddered, backing away instinctively. It was not the first time she saw him in his Oncoming Storm state, and she was even more terrified this time.

"You know nothing, Martha Jones." The Doctor's voice sent shivers down her spine, but she was not a baby.

Her voice was completely level – taking lessons was of use. "I know nothing, because you don't tell me anything about-" she thought better of it, - "about your previous companions. You must have had quite a lot of them during the years, yes?"

"Fairly a lot, yes," the Doctor smiled at her, as if remembering. "They were all amazing, as are you, Martha," he winked at her. However, much to the girl's displeasure, the alien also remembered the exact point where the conversation reached the breaking point.

"Rose, she- she cannot- has no means to- I will bring her back."

"All right, all right," the companion relented, raising her hands in concession. "What then?"

"Then… I'll get to finish the sentence."

"What sentence?" Martha could not hide her interest completely. However, the question seemed to have instantly stopped the Doctor from opening himself to her any further. The way he felt about Rose was an entirely personal matter.

"The one I should have said a long time ago."

The dark-skinned companion looked at him searchingly. It was obvious from his tense behaviour the Doctor was not going to expand on it. Perhaps it was for the better…

"What does it matter now? I'll just have to wait for a little bit longer, and then-"

"Until what?"

"Until Rose Tyler comes back, obviously," a familiar voice scared both of them. "Hi, Doctor. It's been a long time, eh? I seem to have forgotten how much fun eavesdropping can be!"

"Captain." The Doctor eyed him disbelievingly. His appearance promised nothing good.

"Yep. The very same. Just look at you!" It was impossible to say whom that sentence was directed at, Jack's eyes gleaming with admiration at both of them.

"Don't start, Jack. Find your victims somewhere else."

Jack ignored him. Was it just his luck, or was every regeneration of the Doctor like this?

"Who is this gorgeous lady? And where's Rose?"

Another handsome one, another one into Rose. Martha smiled at the man nonetheless. "I'm Martha. Rose is long gone, it appears."

"What do you mean, long gone?" Jack was terrified. "I thought- Excuse us for a sec, dear," the Captain looked at the door meaningfully, and rushed out. The Doctor was beside him in a few moments.

Jack Harkness eyed the Doctor searchingly, panic clearly visible in his features. "She was supposed to be here with you!"

"I know… But- Canary Wharf, you must remember?!"

It was hurting the Doctor to even think about it, let alone word the experience.

"And Norway afterwards. Yes, I know it. She told me."

"What?"

"That's right, Doctor. Rose has told me everything." Jack forced the Doctor to sit down. "You stay still and listen, yes? Or I won't tell you anything. And, for Heaven's sake… stop panicking!"

The alien rolled his eyes at Jack. He, for one, seemed in a panic attack no less. "How do you expect me to remain still?" The Time Lord stood up and began pacing the floor nervously, always talking. "I have lost her. Have been planning, still am, actually, to take certain steps in attempting to reach her, talk to her, perhaps… no matter if it broke my heart to pieces."

"Calm down, Doc. There's no need of that, I'm certain."

The Doctor decided it couldn't hurt to pretend for a short while. "Right. Just answer me this – how comes you've got the chance to meet her? In what dimension? In which universe?" How?

Jack ignored the Time Lord completely, deep in thought. "It can't be we've miscounted. We've spent months and months on trying to find the right way to get Rose to you! And when we believed to have finally worked everything out-"

The Doctor tried his best to control himself. It wasn't him working on getting Rose back, but somebody else!

"Who are we, exactly?"

"Trust me, you wouldn't want to know." At that moment, Jack's mobile phone began to ring. "Sorry, Doc. Give me a moment."

The Gallifreyan only rolled his eyes at the Captain. In no way was he going to leave, when so many things were left unsaid.

"Yes. Yes. Just hurry up, you beautiful thing!" he hung up, a smug smirk on his face.

The Doctor turned his eyes upwards. The once-Time Agent had all the indications of his previous occupation – exceedingly proud of himself and his gadgets, yet unable to admit some people were better than him in so many aspects... Still, it felt good to have him on board.

Not that the Gallifreyan was going to admit it.

"Another one of your lovers, I take it?"

Jack shrugged, glaring at him. "One of yours."