You could explore her halls for weeks, and always manage to find some new corner. A hidden room, some magical wonder to raise the spirit, especially if she was in the mood to share.  She was also very good at meeting the needs of her occupants, providing them with private, luxurious nooks to hide in when socializing was low on the agenda, and ensuring that the other two residents of the TARDIS couldn’t find you.  Jack’s favorite resembled a cove on the Boeshane Peninsula where he grew up, complete with a small hut to lounge in and a cooler full of beer. 

 

Which was why Jack was surprised when he found the TARDIS leading him to another corridor, towards what he normally thought of as Martha’s part of the ship.  Here, the, walls were done in warm jewel tones - purples, rich wines and velvet blacks with plush carpeting beneath his feet.  It had been a month since Martha’s return. She had completed her exams and practiced emergency medicine for a few months before calling the Doctor to pick her up.  She hadn’t spoken much about her time away, but what she did let slip hinted at failed romance, tensions with her family and problems with authority at the hospital.  There was still a great deal of tension between herself and the Doctor (and unfortunately, it wasn’t all of the sexual kind either) so after their adventures Martha often spent her time alone in whatever it was the TARDIS provided for her. 

 

 As he walked and thought, Jack suddenly pulled up to find himself faced with an unfamiliar door.  It wasn’t her bedroom; he knew that door well. He’d spent more than a few evenings watching movies with her, , painting her toenails (she had the cutest feet), or just holding her after the nightmares. They were both still reeling from the events on the Valiant, and neither willing to spend much time on Earth after failed attempts at integrating after the year that never was.  This was something far more private, more intimate. 

 

“Are you sure I should go in there?” Jack asked the TARDIS.  He understood the need to be alone, and would have walked away but for the gentle, insistent prescience in his mind from the TARDIS.  Slowly, he pushed the door open.

 

 

 “So this is what Martha’s hideaway looks like,” he thought with a grin.  The walls were covered with fabrics that reminded Jack of the saris he’d seen women wear on his travels -   rich reds, deep blues and old yellow-gold covered the walls and gave the room an air of the exotic.  As he stepped into the room he was greeted by smells that matched the lush, sensual décor; Nag Champa and roses and musk, enveloping the air around him like a caress.  It was a very Martha sort of smell, welcoming and inviting and rich. 

 

His grin melted away with the sight of Martha herself - curled up on an overstuffed chaise, sipping something amber, and quietly crying.  He removed his shoes and walked over to her, pulling her into his arms as he sat down.  She stiffened for a moment, long enough to take in his face and realize she wasn’t alone, then relaxed and began crying all over again. Jack, unsure of what else he could do, just held her and rocked her gently, suspecting that this may be a bit PTSD after the year she walked and saved the world. 

 

A few minutes later, Martha pulled away with a soggy smile.  “Sorry Jack, it’s just…”  “Hard,” Jack supplied.  Pulling her into his lap and leaning back, he grabbed a second glass that appeared on the table next to them, silently thanking the TARDIS, and poured himself a drink. After taking a sip and swirling the drink around his mouth, he swallowed and said, “Tell me about it.  Also, why this room?  I mean it’s possibly the most gorgeous spot I’ve ever been in,” he looked around, taking in the huge sunken tub big enough for six, the very expensive towels, the orgy sized bed he’d bet was sinfully comfortable, and a set of opulent cabinets he suspected hid one hell of an entertainment unit.  “But your bedroom’s nice. I can’t really see why you’d want a second”.  

 

Martha sighed –shrugged. “Reaction, I guess. Last year,” a minute shudder Jack probably wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t been holding her, “ In the year I walked, I was never really comfortable.  I spent far too many nights sleeping in the open, never really resting, getting up with a sore back and arse.”  She took another swig of the drink, and refilled, drank again and continued.

 

 “Food was really hard to come by.  There were a few times where…” she shuddered again, more noticeably this time, but continued “ where I thought that even if the Master didn’t kill me, malnourishment and dehydration would.  Hell, I stopped getting my period a one point, cos I didn’t have enough body fat to menstruate -” Martha fell silent.  Jack wrapped his arms around her tighter and pressed several small kisses upon her head.  He had known it was bad, but hearing it made it all the more real; Jack silently made a note to himself that it was time someone had a chat with the Doctor about the tension with Martha and his apparent lack of gratitude and understanding..  She drank more and continued “For a while, when I was back home, I would wake up to find myself asleep on the floor, guess I wasn’t used to a bed anymore.  I’d even hoard stuff, like crackers, fruit, things that travel well . . .”  She looked down at her hands, embarrassed, and began to cry again.

 

“Shhhhhh” Jack rocked her again, muttering comforting nonsense.  Once she calmed, he said “Martha, you shouldn’t be ashamed.  What you experienced was traumatizing, and your behavior was understandable.  You aren’t the only one doing things that seem strange to your friends.  And it’s hard, because they are lucky enough not to remember what happened. How do you explain to them that touching your wrists scares you because you remember being chained?  Or that you rush your meals because you’re afraid that if you don’t, it’ll be taken away?”  He caressed her face.  “Why do you think I came back here?  I knew she would help me heal.  She’s given me a beautiful beach, you should see it sometime.” 

 

Martha looked up at Jack, a rueful smile on her face.  “The TARDIS gave me this room.  I was storming around, angry at the Doctor,” she sighed, “I’d tried to talk to him about the lost year. He didn’t want to deal with it, didn’t want to remember the Master, or the rest of it.  I was crying and kicking the walls, thinking about stupid things –like how I used to dream about soft beds and hot baths –and she made this room appear.”  Martha reached out to caress the walls lovingly.   “When I opened the door, there was the room I’d fantasized about.  It was really beautiful, and the temperature was perfect.  I found my favorite foods” she pointed to a beautiful, low Japanese styled table in the corner “and this robe.  She’d given me with every comfort I’d dreamed about.  You know, I would imagine a room that looked like the one on Firefly, it always seemed so sensual and perfect.  And she gave it to me, a place to feel safe, and warm, and full”. 

 

She looked around the room, smiling slightly as she stood.  She wandered over to the table, running her hand along the wall as she went, and picked up a strawberry. 

“I missed things like fresh fruit so much.  It’s not that I want to hide from the world forever, but sometimes I need to take care of me for a change.  I never did before, it was always Mum with her drama or my sister or even the Doctor.”  She wandered over to the tub and began to play with the water. 

 

“I was so alone during that year, would go days without seeing another soul, just walking miles and miles on end.  Somehow, I managed to still feel that alone afterwards, even though my family was near, and the hospital had me busy.  There was the rare night with someone during the time I walked, where we would huddle for warmth, or you barter sex for provisions.  When I got back, I tried having lovers but it’s hard to be intimate with someone who will never know about an entire year of your existence.  How can you be with someone and still feel so alone?” 

 

She looks back over at Jack, who walked over to her, holding his hand out. 

“It helps to be able to share, to not feel so alone anymore.  We should have been there for each other sooner”.