〖 〗

rocked and jerked, the Doctor's attention entrapped in the mess and jumble of controls. Wires, buttons, levers, and balls wrapped around and covered the console. Valarie swore to herself she never saw him touch the same lever twice in her time with him. With a confident lever flip, he stepped back. The rocking stopped.

"There we go! A perfect landing!" He scratched at the back of his head. "Which isn't easy, in such a tight spot."

"Should he used to tight spots by now." Martha remarked. "Where are we?" She asked silently, hoping her adventures weren't over just yet.

"There's no place like it." He nodded towards the door. Martha had mad haste to the door, but now her fingers lingered against the old wood. She became suddenly hesitant in opening the door. She ripped the door open with a sudden smile and ran out, expecting a bold new world.

Valarie and the Doctor followed Martha. They emerged into a room with teal walls, peachy red curtains, and a couch and tv. Pictures littered shelves along with papers, and wet clothes on a laundry rack. It was a home.

"Home. You took me home?" Martha asked.

"Back to the morning after we left. So you haven't even been gone twelve hours." He wondered to a row of childhood photos of Martha and her siblings.

"But after all the stuff we've done? Shakespeare? Old New York, New New York?"

"All in one night. So everything should be as it was. Books, cups, cds, laundry." He eyed the hanger, Martha quickly snagging the more unmentionable items in her hands. "So, right back where you were. As promised."

"So this is it?"

"Yeah, I probably should -" The phone rang, the Doctor pausing as all eyes wandered to a phone. The phone went to voice mail silently.

"Martha? Pick up. Or just pretend you are out, just thought I'd tell you your sister on TV of all things. Just thought you'd be interested." Martha knelt to grab the remote off the coffee table, and turned the television on. It sprang to life on a news channel. A old man stood at a podium, behind him a young woman similar in appearance to Martha. He was speaking about some new experiment he was to demonstrate soon.

"She is a PR at some new research lab." Valarie and the Doctor exchanges looks, recalling the circumstances under which the two had meet.

"And with the push of a single button," he wavered a single finger in the air, "I will change what it means to be human."

"Sorry, you were saying?" Martha asked, the pairs entire focus was entrapped within the screen. The Doctor drew back a breath. "Yeah, just one trip." He said, a hand squeezing Valarie's upper arm. He turned to Martha, as Valarie half way slipped into the door, still with her smiling face out.

"It was wonderful. Thank you." Martha sighed dreamily. "It was my pleasure." .He smiled, before mumbling a goodbye, and slipping into the TARDIS with Valarie. Martha stepped away from the large blue phone booth, as it began to groan and wheeze.

Papers and anything small and light began to fly around the room with a gust of wind emitting from the fading TARDIS. Soon enough, the room was empty again, except for Martha. Her face fell solemn as her gaze fell blankly to the floor. She wasn't given enough time to process what had just occurred before papers began to whisk about the room again, and the box began to materialize once again. The door swung open once it stopped, and the Doctors head sprung from it.

"No, I'm sorry, did he say he was going to change what it means to be human?"

———

"Oh, a black tie. Whenever I wear this something bad happens." He grumbled as he toyed with the cuffs of his dress shirt.

"I think it looks dashing." Valarie giggled, reaching to his neck and adjusting the tie around his throat. Her lips, painted in a bold red lipstick, turned up into a smile as she properly aligned the tie.

"I think it suits you - in a James Bond type of way." Martha teased, the Doctor's eyes widening as he still fiddled with his collar.

"James Bond?!" He asked, finding the comparison rather wrong. Valarie snorted as his flabbergasted remark. The trio approached the large, marble building where the event that will change what it means to be human would occur. "Really?" He asked again, now recounting his similarities to the iconic character.

was engraved in marble above their heads as they walked up the short steps. Cameras flashed and chatter buzzed, hinting at the significance and attention the event really held. Everyone in attendance was dressed to their best, including the Doctor, Martha and Valarie.

In the center of the attention was a large machine; a giant upstanding white pod, surrounded by four like rods that curved inward towards the pod. The bottom portion of the thick rods were transparent - blue lights and wired very clear through the thick glass components.

"Oh, nibbles! They got nibbles!" The Doctor quietly exclaimed to himself, snatching a few from a passing servers tray and popping them in his mouth. His cheeks puffed outwards and he smiled at the two girls, who couldn't decide if they should laugh or not at his rather improper act. Valarie pointed at her mouth, signaling to him he had bits of food on the corners.

A woman approached the three, smiling as she wrapped her arms around Martha without hesitation. "Oh, Tish!" Martha sighed as she hugged her back. The woman seemed not to much older then Martha, her hair slicked back and pinned into a black piece.

"You look great!" Tish complimented her sister, looking up and down Martha's dress. "So, what do you think? Great, isn't it?" She asked in remark to the laboratory.

"It's great." Martha replied.

"And look at you, two nights out in a row. It's a dangerous time for you." Tish teased, Martha rolling her eyes. Valarie smiled to herself, reminiscing on the similar teasing her sister and several brothers put her through also. It had felt like a life time since she spoke to any of her family, to them maybe just two or so days but to Valarie, it had been two weeks since they seemingly crossed her mind. She felt guilty upon realizing this.

"Oh, I know. If I keep it up I'll be in all the gossip columns." Martha dryly retorted, before sharing a laugh with Tish.

"Well, with all the photography tonight you may just. Oh, and keep a watch. Mum's here, and she's brought Leo with her."

"Leo, in black tie? This I have to see." Martha laughed. The conversation fell silent, as Tish's eyes fell on the Doctor and Valarie who stood to the side of the conversation.

"Oh! This is the Doctor," Martha began, Tish taking his hand and shaking it, "And Valarie." Tish shook Valarie's hand also, nodding mutually with Valarie and murmuring 'hello's'.

"Are they with you?" Tish asked, her smile suddenly forced. "Yes." She nodded.

"But they aren't on the list." Tish revealed. Martha was taken back, suddenly scrambled for an explanation.

"He's my plus one."

Tish's eyes fell onto Valarie, who stood now almost as if she tried to hide from Tish's gaze. She had shifted her body halfway behind his arm. The Doctor looked between Tish and Valarie.

"And she's my plus one." He smiled, hoping for once his humor could work them out of the situation. "So, he's your boss?" He asked, now trying to change the subject.

"Yes, he is."

"She's in the PR department." Martha snidely commented. She cheekily smiled, Tish's mouth falling open and eyes wide.

"Head of the PR department, actually." She defended. Martha's smile dropped as she looked to Tish.

"Really?" She asked, flabbergasted.

"Yes! I put this whole thing together!" She announced boldly, obviously taking pride in the nicely organized event around them.

"Do, you know how the professor is doing tonight?" He turned to face the large instrument in the middle of the room. "That looks like a sonic micro-arranger."

Tish exchanged a gaze with Martha. "He's a science geek, I should've known." Valarie forcibly held a smile back at the comment.

"I need to get back to work, I'll leave you three alone down." She mumbled, departing from the group.

The Doctor shrugged, turning to observe the intrusions again - this time, Valarie and Martha following suit. The three weren't alone again for long, as Martha. "Martha!" A woman cried.

"Oh, mum!" She sighed as she embraced her mother tightly. A young man accompanied her - one Valarie could only assume as the mentioned brother, Leo.

Guilt washed over Valarie like a wave at seeing Martha's constant interactions with her family. She looked down at her heeled shoes, her hand tightly gripping a clutch in her hands. Her other hand balled into a light fist on her black dress. She had completely neglected her family except for fleeting moments in the time since she had meet the Doctor.

"Excuse me." She whispered to him as she pushed past him, suddenly separating herself from the group. The Doctor's gaze followed her as she walked, wondering what suddenly made Valarie want to be away from them.

Valarie pushes herself towards a corner of the room, reaching into her clutch and withdrawing a cellphone. She turned it on, quickly skimming through contacts until she found her desired one. She called it swiftly and lifted the phone to her ear, her earring gently clinking against its buttons.

"Hello?" A man's voice asked.

"Hey daddy." Valarie laughed, shocked that she was suddenly sniffling. Her father's voice immediately lightened.

"Valarie darling! Oh, it's wonderful to hear from you again. What do you need?" He asked.

"Why would I need anything?" She half laughed, looking at her surroundings.

"Well, I know you aren't one for phone calls particularly." Her father heartedly chuckled. She rolled her eyes, realizing how much she missed his laugh.

"I, I just missed your voice." She sighed. "How's mum?" She asked.

"She's been doing amazing. Recovering from her little fall a week ago like a champ." Valarie released a held breath.

"Fantastic. And Willy?" She asked in reference to her eldest brother.

"Had his hands full with the twins, but they are newborns after all."

"And Mabel? Jane?" She questioned about her older and only sister, and her new wife whom she had married three months prior.

"It's the happiest I have ever seen her since she was twelve and got that dog."

"And Matthew? Chris? Peter?" Her father snorted at her sudden inquisitiveness about her siblings. He laughed for a good moment l, before sighing.

"What's got you so caring about your family?" He asked. Valarie shook her head, peering at her shoes.

"I don't know. Just, had some stuff happen lately that's had me reflecting." Recollection of the past events involving aliens and life and death replayed in her mind. She could've died so many times. And no one in her family would ever know, or understand what happened to her.

'What ever happened to little Valarie Aria Scott?' They would ask.

"Is everything alright sweetie?" He pondered.

"Yes daddy. Just some self reflection." A presence behind her quickly drew her attention, Valarie peeking over her shoulder to find the Doctor peering down at her. "Listen, daddy, I need to go now."

"Okay darling. Just keep in reach. We are here. Love you."

"Love you too, bye." She murmured, hanging up and tucking her phone away. She turned to him, clearing her throat and smiling with tight lips.

"Who was that?" He asked her, Valarie sucking in a deep breath and raising her eyebrows.

"Oh, no one really. Just," she paused hesitantly, looking up at him as his eyebrows raised in silent question, "my father."

"You miss them." The Doctor silently responded. His smile was gentle, but his eyes understanding. But Valarie swore she could almost see a twinge of sadness.

"Well of course I always miss them but, but not overwhelmingly! But they are," she paused, finding herself struggling for her words, not able to look at him anymore. "Seeing Martha with her family just made me think."

"Perhaps I can take you to see them when this is over." He suggested smiling. She snorted gently.

"Really? The Scott's are a hand full, you know I have five siblings? Not counting in-laws!" She pointed a finger, a more light hearted air rising between the two.

"Oh, nothing I can't handle. My own siblings were a handful." As quickly as that happy atmosphere rose, a more solemn one took its place. Valarie couldn't forget what the Doctor had told her of Gallifrey after they freed the motorway. What he told her of its rise and fall, and his bold declaration of being the 'Last of the Time Lords'. It made her heart ache at the mere thought.

"Ladies, and gentleman." A old voice boomed over the room. His head spun to face the center, the source of the noise, and back to Valarie. He snagged her hand tightly, and began to pull her through the crowd back towards Martha where he had left her with her mother and brother.

"Tonight, I am going to preform a miracle." Lazarus himself stood before a crowd in front of the micro-arranger. The Doctor and Valarie slipped next to Martha, who eyed the two but quickly focused her attention back to Lazarus.

"It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom. Since, Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch and wonder. Tomorrow, you will wake to a world that will be changed, forever." With that bold statement, Lazarus stepped inside the awaiting machine. Assistants in lab coats flew to work, activating the machine with no warning. A loud mechanic screech filled the room, and a bright blue light emitted, the four rods began to spin swiftly as the machine worked.

It didn't take long for a loud alarm to sound.

"Somethings wrong." The Doctor announced, looking to the stations that the assistants worked. "It's overloading." He quickly sprang to action, springing towards the controls and working faster then anyone else could have. With the yank of a cord, the machine stopped harshly.

Martha sprang towards the door, avoiding the Doctor's warning and opened the pods door. Smoke emitted from the chamber, Valarie stepping up briefly with her hand hovering before the inside. The Doctor joined them, watching and waiting to see if Lazarus stepped out - or fell out.

A younger hand grabbed hers, in assistance, as a man stumbled out. He was younger then the Lazarus that had stepped inside. He blinked, dazed as his eyes began to focus once again. He stared at Valarie, his emotion while gazing at her unreadable. The Doctor was swift to move Valarie back to his side, not being able to predict what this new man may do. The young man threw his arms open.

"I am Richard Lazarus. I am seventy-six years old." The room was deadly silent.

"And I am reborn!"

Unedited

It feels amazing to be back. Thank you all so much for your overwhelming support, and thank you for over 15K reads. :)

-Grace.