Just a little one (maybe two, actually) shot that struck me during the last leg of a mini road trip from Syracuse. Maddy Lake Deep's fic Regrets actually planted a tiny seed and this idea just grew around it (not to mention I was on my way from a wedding so that was still floating around in my head). Hope you guys enjoy!

About Time

It had been years -literally years- since she'd seen him.

'And he decided today, of all days, was the best day to pop up?' She thought bitterly with arms folded as she waited outside the still materializing vehicle. Martha shifted her weight onto one hip and donned her best "Seriously?!" face. She stood in a white corset with matching knickers, white garters, white stockings and white satin pumps. Before she heard the unearthly racket that heralded the TARDIS's arrival, she'd been staring at the ornate white dress- still deciding whether or not to put it on. Still waiting for a sign that she was making the right decision.

She waited outside the TARDIS wondering if this was the sign she was waiting for: would her spiky-haired god finally give his blessing? Or would he sweep her away again? (Something she desperately hoped for but would never admit.)

What she was greeted with was not a spiky-haired god at all, but a mop of unruly brown hair and piercing green eyes that flitted nervously around the room.

"Huh, silly old ship, we were aiming for the part where they ask if anyone has any objections..." He trailed off.

He didn't look at, or acknowledge her as he looked around. But even though she didn't recognize his face, she recognized his 'I've got to be talking to myself because nobody knows what insanity is going through my head right now' voice anywhere. However, that did nothing to quell her astonishment at the otherwise unrecognizable man.

He finally looked at her. And when he did, it was directly into her eyes. "Hello, Martha Jones." His smile was warm and inviting, but Martha stood gaping. After a moment of silence- stunned for her, awkward for him- he spoke again.

"I suppose you're wondering why I'm here. Didn't exactly RSVP... "He said, fussing with his hands as he was apt to do in this body. For his part, he tried his best to play it cool. What he was about to say would be difficult for him to say, and even more difficult for her to hear. But he recently heard something that had made it impossible for him not to say.

"You know when sometimes you meet someone so beautiful and then you actually talk to them and five minutes later they're as dull as a brick? Then there's other people, when you meet them you think, "Not bad. They're okay." And then you get to know them and... and their face just sort of becomes them. Like their personality's written all over it. And they just turn into something so beautiful... Rory's the most beautiful man I've ever met."

Martha's personality has been written all over her face from the moment he met her. Her inquisitive nature, her patience, her boundless energy, her determination, her 'take-no-prisoners' attitude... these things paired with bright eyes, full lips, radiant caramel skin and dangerous curves; all of this power packed into a single compact figure culminated into one Doctor Martha Jones who, done wrong by his younger self, flourished in spite of him. Doctor Martha Jones, who finally became the woman she was destined to be.

Almost 200 years older now, he reckoned that if he would have met her later, or she earlier, depending on how one saw the circumstances of this peculiar case, things would have gone much differently. If only he knew then what he knew now. He was a much different person now. He liked to believe that he was older and wiser. But what he wanted- what he needed- was so clear to him now that he couldn't believe that he'd missed it before.

"Well, uhh... I've been, well, thinking about you. A lot, actually, as of late. And... And, who decides to have a wedding in the middle of the summer? You're not hot?"

Talking about heavy subjects? Avert. Always avert. Always his best tactic. He was a bit warm, but that had nothing to do with New York's mid-summer heat; The Doctor was actually nervous. He took off his jacket and threw it on the back of a nearby chair in true Doctor fashion. He looked to Martha from the side of his eye. She was no longer gawking, but now staring with that age old curiosity of hers.

"You're not going to make this easy are you? She warned me that you wouldn't, you know. The TARDIS. I figured she was just being a smart ass, but deep down I think I knew. "

"Knew what?" They were the first words she'd spoken.

"That you'd come here with that new face planning to interrupt and ultimately object to my wedding for some reason that has yet to be revealed... You didn't think I'd make things hard for you?" She crossed her arms again, but there was something in her tone that took the threat out. A question that begged for an answer. Not unlike his own question.

He stood before her, feeling as naked as the day he was born before her gaze. "Why are you doing this? Why are you marrying him?" Martha didn't reply. She just leaned against the desk and took a sudden interest in the floor tiles, letting out a puff of air.

"He'll never truly understand. He'll never know the real you. You'll be living a lie."

"We'll what's the alternative? Living alone?" She asked in a tone that broke his hearts.

"Living with me" he unfolded her arms and held her hands in his. "Permanently. Or for as long as you'll have me."

Her head snapped up and her eyes met his once again. She could distantly hear her mother's pleas to open the door having heard the TARDIS materialize. Mrs. Milligan's shrill voice echoed through the door as well but the only thing that mattered at that moment was the two of them. One Time Lord, one human, and three hearts between them.

"Why?" She asked quietly. He took her face in his hands.

"Martha, There isn't one day that has passed that I don't regret not doing something- anything-to make you stay. I felt I'd lost the right. I'd resigned myself to the fact that I'd lost you. But I'm a new man now. A different man. And I believe that this-" he said, working his jaw and gearing up for the hardest part. "Martha this, you and me, we were meant to happen. I know it seems crazy. Absurd really. I say that I don't believe in coincidence and I don't believe in fate. But this isn't fate. This isn't coincidence. This is time. Our timelines have been jumbled for quite some time. But I can see it now. Other stuff... Namely my own stubbornness was in the way mucking up the timelines, but it's here. Clear as day inside my head that you belong with me. We were just a product of… of bad timing."

She seemed to be taking it all in. And he wouldn't be surprised if she kicked him out, donned the dress and became Mrs. Thomas Milligan based on this conversation alone. He had to try, and he'd never been good at keeping things from her.

"When I see these events unravel, you're there. You're always there. You're by my side. You just... fit. You've been in my hearts and in my head for a long time now, Martha."

His hands were still on her face, holding her so that she had no choice but to look in his eyes and see the truth reflected there. "I love you."
She leaned into his touch. She'd never seen the man before, but she knew instantly that this was a man she could love forever. She had already loved him to the end of time and back and she would love him to infinity. No amount of rings or flowers or white fabric would ever change that.

Suddenly, in the light of his admission, the dress, the ceremony, even the groom seemed less important.

"I love you too" She whispered. He smiled gently before capturing her lips in his. If his arrival wasn't the sign that she'd been looking for, then the fluttering in her heart definitely was.

"But wait. What about your companion? This isn't just because you're traveling alone is it?"

"Of course it isn't! I may be a daft old alien but I'm not stupid!" She sighed with relief.

"There are two of them. Amy and Rory Pond"

"And they're ok with this? You bringing me aboard?"

"Of course they are! Well they will be once I tell them. Well... Rory will. You'll like Rory and Rory will like you. Amy... Well Amy's another story"

"You haven't told them that you were planning on bringing another person aboard?"

"They were sleeping. You know humans. You need all those hours of sleep." He said fussing with his hands again. He couldn't conceal his smile. Soon, neither could she.

"And they also must be ok with your questionable taste" Martha said, cocking an amused brow at his bow tie.

"I'll have you know, Doctor Jones, that bow ties are cool." The Doctor said, taking her hands in his and working off her engagement ring.

"And these?" She said, sliding her hands up his chest to pull at his braces and snapping then back against his slim torso.

"Oi!" He said, rubbing away the sting. He shrugged his jacket back on and snapped his fingers causing the TARDIS doors to creak open. Suddenly, he scooped her into his arm.

"Now, Miss Jones. Let's get you into something a bit more... Red" he said as he carried her over the threshold, leaving the white dress and ring behind.

In hindsight, if you're looking for a sign that you should or shouldn't marry someone that's probably a sign in and of itself that you shouldn't marry that person. Right?

This was super fun to write and I hope you liked it! I'm dreaming up a part II now, with the help of Sheena Is A Punk Rocker.

In the meantime, review! Tell me what you think!

xoxo, LPL