The Impossible Children

Tish was fully and properly anesthetized, and all of her vitals were as they should be. Her condition was stable. Martha went through the mental checklist in her head as she checked over her sister. Everything seemed in order, and Tish seemed fine. They were ready to begin.

She found herself feeling more anxious than she would have liked. This was not a procedure that she was very familiar with at all, not even considering all the ways this case was unusual. Then, there was a nagging thought that had cost her some much needed sleep in the previous night.

What would The Doctor do? Would he do this? Would this ever be his choice? She was incredibly worried and increasingly certain that the answer was no and never. The Doctor would never have chosen this.

But Tish did. And Torchwood did. And Martha knew from a medical standpoint that this was the best decision.

Besides, what other choice did they have? Risk Tish's life? Risk the unborn alien hybrid's life? They weren't The Doctor; they did not know or have any other way. The Doctor would have found another way, but they were simply not afforded that opportunity. These were their options, and this was seemingly their best option.

She wished there was someone else on the team qualified to do this, but she figured she'd be nervous either way. Operating on her own sister with very little help was something she could never have prepared herself for. Still, she steeled herself; right now, she was not just a sister, she was a doctor and her sister, her patient, needed her to be strong, cool, and collected.

Everything was going remarkably and surprisingly easily until she tried to make an incision into Tish's uterus. What she was seeing shocked her, even despite all the otherworldly things she had seen before when travelling with The Doctor, working for Unit, or working with Torchwood. It was glowing, and when she tried to cut into it she found that she could not.

Mickey, who was acting as her assistant practically jumped back. "What the hell?" Apparently, this was enough to rattle him, too. "What is that?"

"I-I don't know," Martha replied, "I've never seen anything like this. Never heard of anything like this." She could not believe what she was witnessing.

"Reckon it's got something to do with that alien then?" Mickey asked. "Like—like a defense mechanism or something?”

"I dunno. It must be." This was certainly a major development in the case. Martha just hated its implications for Tish. "This certainly changes things."

Martha went to work closing Tish back up. She sighed in frustrated resignation. She just wanted this to be over for Tish. She was so tired of her family being put through one hell after another; she took the job at Unit to help, and she had taken this new position at Torchwood to help, but at the moment she felt utterly incapable of any effective help at all.

Mickey continued to monitor Tish's vitals on the machine. "Reckon Jack knows anything about this?"

"We'll have to meet with the rest of the team. I'm hoping someone knows something," Martha said. Although, what she was really hoping more than anything else was to hear the familiar, exhilarating whirring sound of the TARDIS, signalling The Doctor's arrival in his time and space ship. This case was beyond them, it seemed; his arrival would mean real, effective aid. Until then, however, they would have to manage; Martha tried not to think about the possibility that The Doctor was not going to come help them.

"Mickey, go tell Jack what's happened. I need to look after Tish for right now," She added after a pause.

Mickey returned with Jack and the rest of the team very shortly after. "Okay, so, looks like there's been a major change in our game plan," Jack said as he strode purposefully into the medical bay. "So, what are our options?" He asked it as though he already had the answers. No one was certain how much of that was a bluff.

"Well, as far as I can tell right now, removing the alien entity from Tish is not possible," Martha stated, "As I'm sure you all know by now."

"So, she'll have to keep it then?" Gwen responded. Gwen had never been totally on board with the plan to abort the alien life, but she still seemed very concerned for Tish.

"Well, that's a bit obvious," Ianto said.

"For how long?" Gwen continued, ignoring her snarky co-worker, "I mean, what happens when she gives birth to an alien? What do we do then? And what if this is happening to others? What do we do then?"

They were all reminded at that moment that this situation might just be out of their control. How could they contain it if there were others?

"I reckon the aliens probably have a plan for when Tish gives birth," Mickey answered her first question.

"Right, but we don't," Gwen retorted, "So, what are we going to do?"

"We're going to stop them," Jack said, "And from there we'll just have to figure out what to do with their offspring. This threat is clearly not one we can contain or cover up, so that's not a priority. What we need to do is keep investigating, find out everything we can, if this is happening to others, what species is responsible for this, and what they're planning, any and all pertinent information, so we can stop it."

For now, that was the only conclusion that the group could reach.

Martha had given Tish some time to come around, but wished she could give her more. She sighed and tried to put on a brave face. There was no way to make this news easy to give or for Tish to receive, but they would just have to be strong.

"So, what happened?" Tish asked before Martha could even begin.

"We couldn't do it, Tish. We weren't able to remove it," Martha explained, "We think it's some sort of in-utero defense mechanism."

"So, I'm stuck with it?" Tish asked. Martha was disturbed at how little distress her sister was showing. More than anything, Tish just seemed resigned and tired.

"Tish, I'm so sorry," Martha replied earnestly, "I wish there was more I could do or that I could say."

"It's fine, Martha," Tish replied, "Really." Her eyes were cast down and never looked up at Martha. "There's nothing any of us can do except go along with this stuff and see what happens; I've accepted that."

Martha admired her sister's tremendous strength, but it broke her heart to see her like this all the same, to see her just accepting her fate even though it could very well spell her destruction. Tish was not giving up, but neither was she fighting. Martha was glad that Tish wasn't losing her mind, but she still wished she saw more concern, even fear—any sort of spark at all— in her sister's dark eyes.

"We're gonna do whatever we can to help you, Tish," Martha said adamantly, "And we're gonna do whatever it takes to stop this."

Tish smiled a small, halfhearted smile of encouragement. "Damn right you are, sis." It quickly faded, however. "Martha, if it's alright though, I think I really just need to be alone for a bit."

"Of course," Martha said, "If you need anything, I'll be around." With some hesitance, she exited the medical bay.

"So, how is she?" Jack asked Martha quietly as soon as she had left the room.

"She seems, I dunno, she seems to be doing well," Martha answered, "She didn't take the news as poorly as one would expect."

"Oh," Jack said, "Well, that's good, isn't it?"

"Maybe," Martha said, "Maybe not."

"Have you spoken with The Doctor?" Jack asked.

"Jack, he's not answering any of my calls," Martha responded, a bit more desperately than she would have liked, "I keep calling him, but I don't know what else to do."

"Just keep trying," Jack said, placing a reassuring, firm hand on her shoulder, "He'll come around. He's probably just busy." Jack shook his head and tried not to think of all the times he had needed The Doctor or could have used the other man's help, only to be left unanswered. He hoped desperately that his was not another one of those times. "And if he doesn't, well, then, we'll manage, okay? We'll find a way to deal with this on our own, just like we have many times before." Neither of them felt like addressing how much higher and more personal the stakes seemed in this case, nor how potentially bleak their prospects seemed without The Doctor's help.

"Alright, Jack," Martha said, and with that she walked away. She kept walking until she was leaving the Torchwood Hub and stepping out into the fresh, cool air outside. She took a deep breath and let it go, getting out her phone and dialing a long, familiar number. She listened and waited, tapping her foot and fidgeting impatiently. Several rings issued in her ear, and still, still, she waited. Finally, she was told to leave a message (by an automated voice, no less.)

And this time, she did. "Doctor, it's Martha. I hope everything's alright; you haven't been answering." The thought and the worry that The Doctor had gotten himself in even graver danger than usual or worse had crossed Martha's mind many times as well. "You're probably just busy; that's what you always say, isn't it? Busy? But look, Doctor, we really need your help. I really need your help. Earth is in danger. People are being abducted, and terrible things are happening to them. My sister, Tish...she's been abducted and impregnated with some sort of alien, and we don't know what's going to happen to her." Martha felt herself growing more emotional and less able to stay composed as she went on. Now she fought tears, determined to stay collected and not break down. "We don't know if—" She had to pause, and she found that she couldn't finish that thought. She continued, "She needs you, Doctor. We all do. Please..."

She stopped there. She had gone on long enough, she reckoned, and maybe even too long, but he had to know what was going on and just what was at stake. He had to know how much they truly needed his help. She hung up and pocketed her phone once more. Now she would just have to do as Tish had said, go along with things and see what happened.