The Most Incredible Thing Ever (Doctor Who/Indiana Jones)

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Title: The Most Incredible Thing Ever
Author: sarah531
Rating:: PG
Fandom: Doctor Who/Indiana Jones
Spoilers: Major ones for Crystal Skull
Notes: Set somewhere between 42 and Human Nature. Probably less cracktastic than it should have been. :p This would not have been possible without drakyndra and her post here. :D
Summary: Martha Jones meets her great-grandfather.

The Most Incredible Thing Ever

part one- the thing in the attic

“I haven’t been in anyone’s parent’s attic for a while,” said the Doctor. He was sitting on a pile of boxes and untangling a shoelace, distracted and possibly bored. “I forgot how they smell. Old. Full of stuff people don’t know what to do with.”

Martha Jones ignored him. She moved a pile of old children’s books out of the way. “Found it,” she said. “Old photo album.”

“Really,” the Doctor said, barely looking at her.

“You just don’t do families, do you?”

“Sometimes I do. Not often.”

Martha looked at him and couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “I just went to get this, you see,” she said. “The old family photo album. When we moved here there wasn’t room for it on the shelves and Mum’s a bit picky about things being messy, so we kept it in the attic. Daft really.”

“Mmmmmmm.”

“Well, I’ve got it now. We can go. Unless you want to stay here for a bit?”

“Why?”

“Just for a rest.”

The Doctor stared at her, amazed. “Rest? Why would you want to rest, Martha, there’s the whole universe outside this house!”

“Maybe because not too long ago I was running for my life from enormous slugs?”

“Some people like running for their lives,” the Doctor said huffily. But he collapsed on an old sofa, and made like he was sleeping.

Martha settled down on a chair, opened her photo album and brushed the dust carefully off each page, but after a while she looked up to see the Doctor peering over her shoulder.

“Oi, nosy.”

“That you?” he said, pointing at a picture of a very young girl holding an ice cream.

“Yeah. First holiday.”

The Doctor was quiet for a bit. Martha wondered if perhaps he was thinking back to his own first holiday. If he remembered it.

“That’s my sister,” she said, to break the silence. “It’s her on one of the rides at Blackpool. And that’s my mum and dad. Before they got divorced.”

“Blackpool? I’ve been there. The Tower can shoot a laser into space if given the right coordinates.”

She ignored him. “These are old photos in the back. My dad when he was a baby.”

The Doctor suddenly gave a little yelp, something Martha had never heard him do before. “That,” he said. “Who’s that?”

Martha looked at the picture he was pointing at. “My grandfather?” she said.

“No…no…he’s someone I know…” He waved his arms around his head as if rummaging through his brain. “What’s his name? Martha, what’s his name?”

“He died when I was little…his name was Henry.”

“Mutt!”

“What?”

“Your great-grandfather! Martha, what was your great-grandfather’s name?” He was practically hopping around the room now. “Tell me his name!”

“I don’t know,” Martha said, gawping at this sudden display. “He might have been Henry too.”

“Indiana!”

“What?”

“Okay, okay, I’ll explain,” the Doctor said, settling down and sitting back on the sofa. “What do you know about your great-grandparents on your father’s side?”

“Nothing,” Martha said, still trying to work out where this was going. “I mean, I know they were white and American. But they died long before I was born.”

“What about your grandparents? What d’ya know about them?”

“My grandfather was American, and he came here and married Kay, my grandma, and they had my dad, and…that’s it. They both died ages ago. I didn’t know them very well, really…”

The Doctor grinned- not the reaction Martha was expecting- and jumped up again. “Do you have anything belonging to your great-grandfather, Martha?”

“I don’t know. Possibly. My dad sort of keeps everything up here…”

The Doctor started rummaging amongst the piles of books, records and boxes. Martha watched him, bemused. “I’ve never thought about my ancestors,” she said, feeling oddly guilty. “I just…never do. Suppose with most people it’d be the first thing they ever thought of if they got to go on a time machine, wouldn’t it? Go back and see their great-grandparents.”

“No, not really, you’d be surprised…” The Doctor was barely paying attention; he was instead attempting to reach right into the bottom of a large cardboard box. Martha turned away, tripped over a typewriter, and fell into a pile of clothes.

“Oh, hey…I think this might have been his,” she said, picking up an old hat and dusting it off. “Something belonging to one of my dad’s relatives, anyway. I remember when I was little, I think Dad mentioned it, he had a fight with Mum about throwing some of this old stuff out…”

In an instant, the Doctor jumped to her side and snatched the hat. He stared at it in awe, turning it round in his hands.

“Oh, Martha. Martha, Martha, Martha,” he said. “Wait until I tell you who your great-grandfather was.”

*

Somewhere in a unstable, rocky, highly interesting valley in America a man who was called Henry but preferred Indy was running for his life from a rockslide when a young woman, accompanied by a thin, wild-haired man, suddenly popped up in front of him.

“I’m Martha Jones,” she said with a gasp. “I’m your great-granddaughter!”

“That’s nice, darling,” he gasped. “Run!”

*****

part two- the past, the future, and the joneses

Martha sat at the Jones’ dining table, next to the Doctor and opposite her great-grandparents. Her great-grandmother was making a cake as if relatives from the future dropped in every day, and her great-grandfather was looking at her thoughtfully.

“So you’re my great-granddaughter,” he said.

“Yeah,” Martha said. “Um, yes, sir. Henry.”

“Indy.”

“Indy. Sorry. Um, do you want to know how I got here?”

“It’s me. I’m how she got here,” the Doctor said. He had been silent for the past few minutes, quite a achievement for him, but now he was jumping to his feet excitedly and grabbing Indy’s hand. “I own a time machine, you see. Well, I say own, it’s not owning as such, but it’s a time machine and it brought me and Martha here. It’s a honour to meet you, sir.” He shook his hand vigorously, and then dashed to the woman by the oven. “Nice to meet you too. It’s Marion, isn’t it? You have a great great-granddaughter, you know, saved the world a couple of times, just like you two. Anyway.” He trailed off. “I’m the Doctor. Hello.”

“You do believe us, don’t you?” Martha asked her great-grandfather.

“I believe you.” There was a pause, then he said, “Time travel, coming all this way, bringing strange people with you- you sound like you’re related to me.” He smiled. “What’s it like? Time travel?”

“It’s wonderful. We met Shakespeare.”

“Wow.”

“It’s not many people who shock him like that,” Marion said, taking her seat at the table. “So, your name is Martha.”

“Yeah.”

“And your father’s name?”

“Clive.”

“Not Henry?” She looked rather disappointed.

“No. Sorry.”

“My son is in Britain right now, with Kay.” Marion said. “It’s not an easy thing. He told me about the mail he gets. Mail from idiots determined to stand in the way of progress.” She paused for a minute, anger sparking in her eyes. “But he’s a courageous boy.”

Martha nodded, and was silently angry with herself for not considering what it would have been like for her grandparents growing up in love in such an era; or for considering it only very rarely. She had written them off as part of the past, choosing to focus instead on the future. But one needed the past to work towards the future; she could see that now.

“Tell me about them,” she asked. “Tell me about yourselves.”

*

They sat at the dinner table until dark.

“So then we were married,” Indy said, winking at his wife. “Then last year Mutt went off to England and met Kay. They’re getting married in two months.”

“Wow,” Martha breathed.

“The Nameless,” the Doctor said.

Everyone in the room looked at him. “What?” Martha asked.

“The Nameless. The aliens you met. Closely related to Elemental Shades. You know, I’ve never gotten a good look at one…” He trailed off. There was silence.

“Who, exactly, is this guy?” Indy asked.

“He’s the Doctor,” Martha said.

This actually seemed to satisfy the other two people in the room.

“I’ve heard rumours,” Marion said, after a long pause, “about a Doctor. Some sort of British Doctor, who would do the most unbelievable things. But you’re so young.”

“Oh, it’s not the years, honey,” the Doctor said cheerfully. “It’s the mileage.” He winked at Martha.

“He’s a bit older than he looks,” Martha said.

“He’d better treat you good,” Indy said. “A young kid like you.”

“Oh, we’re not…”

“Not together,” the Doctor said. “Just friends.”

There was a slightly awkward silence, which the Doctor promptly broke.

“I find all this stuff brilliant, what you did. What you do,” he said. “Your great-granddaughter is travelling with me! Isn’t this the most incredible thing ever?” He beamed around at the room, and Martha found herself beaming back.

*

“Come with us,” the Doctor said. They were all standing outside the TARDIS. “We’re going to visit your son first. Drop in and give Martha a chance to meet him. Then we could go anywhere. Mars, New Earth, America in the future…”

Indy and Marion exchanged a glance.

“To Mars?” Marion asked.

“To Mars,” Indy confirmed cheerfully.

The two of them stepped inside, and were instantly struck dumb with amazement.

“Happens to everyone, that,” the Doctor said, pushing a button on the console. “Nice, the TARDIS, isn’t it?”

“You’re telling me,” Marion breathed.

“How does it work?” Indy asked.

“Complicated one, that. I never really have time to explain to anyone. Too busy.” The TARDIS suddenly tilted to one side. “Too busy trying to stop that happening, for example. Take a seat, and hold on!”

The three members of the Jones family hurried to the nearest chairs.

“Here,” Indy said suddenly to Martha. “See what this looks like on you.” He took the hat from off his head and put it on hers. Martha adjusted it admiringly.

“Wow, thanks!”

“It’s a loan, okay? But it looks good on you.”

“I take it we’ll get back to America in one piece?” Marion asked, as the TARDIS lurched. “Not that I don’t trust your Doctor, Martha, but…”

“Should do,” Martha said. “I can take you to London, if you want. My London. You can meet the rest of my family. The rest of your family. They shouldn’t be too freaked out. Most of them have been chased by giant monsters and things, so they’re used to this sort of thing now.”

“I should think so, being Joneses,” Indy said.

The TARDIS plummeted towards Mars.