InsaneJournal

Who: Martha Jones and Nina Pickering
What: Celebrating Nina's Engagement
When: Backdated: Early January
Where: A Bar
Rating/Warnings: Family Friendly
Status: Complete!

Martha couldn’t have been happier for Nina and Gabe and was excited to celebrate Nina’s engagement with her tonight as well as catch up. It had been a little while since they had hung out and there couldn’t have been a better reason than this. Working at the Agency gave Martha more freedom than she might have had at a hospital, so it had been easy to plan a time and date to get together. They had planned to meet up at the bar they usually went to so after leaving work, Martha went home to change when headed to the bar.

Being at the hospital still meant that Nina had less freedom than Martha but luckily they had found a time good for them both and catching up over a few drinks was definitely something Nina had been looking forward to. It was always hard to keep in regular contact with her friends when she was doing shift work still. Gabe, Audrey and Merlin were really the only ones who saw her with any regularity so she appreciated evenings like this one.

Spotting Martha as she arrived she waved, “Hey, good timing” she said as it looked as though they had arrived at the same time.

Martha smiled as she spotted Nina and headed straight towards her friend, “Very good timing,” Still smiling, Martha wrapped her arms around Nina in a tight hug, “Congratulations, by the way!” Martha also saw certain people on a regular basis; mostly people she worked with like Cosima, Jemma and Peggy, so getting the chance to see Nina was special.

Nina returned the hug, “Thank you so much, I still can’t believe it you know. I’m a fiancée” she grinned. Her patients had been so wonderful about her infectious smile and she’d been showing off her ring in all the wards once the word got round. “How have you been? Did you have a nice Christmas and New Year?” Nina asked.

“I’ve been alright. They were fine. My family couldn’t come out here this year, but I SKYPED with them, so it wasn’t too bad.” Martha led the way inside the bar, “How was yours? Aside from getting engaged of course.” She smiled at her friend.

“I’m glad you still got to see them” Nina said, family was important and Gabe had spoken to his on the day too. Following she smiled, “It was nice. Quiet morning but then Merlin and Audrey invited us to theirs so we got to see the kids which was lovely. Ben was so excited to show us what he’d gotten from Santa”

“Sounds like you had a good time,” Martha smiled as they approached the bar and she leaned forward slightly so that she could get the bartender’s attention, “First round is on me.” They were celebrating Nina’s engagement, so there was no question that Martha would be buying the first round, “What do you want?”

“Thanks Martha, sweet white wine please” she requested, Nina wasn’t too fussy with what she drank. When with friends it was usually wine though she had been known to enjoy a good beer as well. “How’s work going? Still interesting I imagine” she said as the bartender moved to fulfill their order.

Once she caught a bartender’s attention Martha ordered their drinks; white wine for Nina and a mixed drink for herself then turned back towards her friend, “It’s going well. Very interesting. Nothing like working in a hospital, but I like it. I get to do things I never would have been able to do at a hospital.” Of course she still did medical procedures, but not like she had before. “How’s work going for you?” As the drinks were placed on the bar top, she paid then handed Nina hers.

“I imagine you do” Nina knew of the incredible things they could do at the Agency, it was thanks to Martha that she and Gabe had been able to get a referral to the geneticists there to help them look into having a child. “It’s good. I’m being rotated less now which is nice. Having the same set of patients to check on is always good. Following the whole journey” she smiled, she liked working the ER but ward rounds were just a gentler pace sometimes and she did like getting to know the people she looked after.

Martha had been happy to help Nina and Gabe with the possibility of someday having a child and she hoped that it would eventually pay off. “Sounds like things are going well. Rotating less is definitely less stressful.” That was one of the things that she enjoyed about The Agency; less stress. When she was working at the hospital, half the time she was so stressed and exhausted that she couldn’t even enjoy her days off, because she was decompressing and catching up on sleep, but now everything was more organized and most of the time stress free. “So, let's get down to the important stuff. How did Gabe propose?”

Nina didn’t mind the stress of her work, it came with the territory of working in a hospital but she was one of the lucky ones who was able to shut off when she got home. It had taken a few years but she had learnt to leave work at work and not dwell on things.

“He took me to the nursery that he works at, they have a beautiful garden and Gabe’s coworkers had lit up the gazebo with fairy lights and the whole thing looked pretty magical really” Nina smiled, “He got down on one knee and told me he wanted to spend the rest of our lives together and then asked me to marry him. It was ridiculously romantic, like a movie scene”

Martha couldn’t help the silly grin that spread across her face as Nina spoke, “That sounds so romantic. Have you started doing any wedding planning yet?” She asked, taking a sip of her drink. “Gotta make sure you don’t accidently schedule the wedding on a full moon. That would be a horrible way to spend your wedding night.”

“It was. Not really, we’re thinking of holding the ceremony and/or the reception at the nursery. If we time it right when it’s in full bloom it would look so incredible” Nina said before nodding, “Oh, that is a very good point. Thanks, that would suck” she grinned.

“That sounds like it’ll be beautiful. Hopefully none of the guests are allergic to flowers,” Martha couldn’t wait to see Nina on her wedding day, whenever it ended up taking place. She was sure to be there. “So, besides getting engaged, what else have you been up to lately?”

“I’ll be sure to put a note in there saying something, or maybe speak to Merlin about helping us out” Nina nodded, Martha was so great at thinking of the practicalities. Nina would have to consult her when they were making the decisions, “Not much if I’m honest. We try and babysit once a week if we can so Merlin and Audrey can have a break so that’s pretty fun. Oh and Gabe’s best friend moved back to the area, meeting him was interesting” she grinned, “How about you?”

“I’m sure they appreciate that,” Martha hadn’t babysat in years. Not since she was a teenager and she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d be able to handle a baby or little kid at the moment. “What about it made it interesting?” Considering the things that happened in the area, interesting could mean anything. “Not much really. I hang out with my friend Clara and her father, who is actually one of the regenerations of The Doctor, from my dreams. And a few people from work. Nothing too exciting.”

“He’s just not what I expected for Gabe’s best friend. He’s a bit...blunt and talks like a gangster. He also doesn’t seem to have listened to anything Gabe’s told him about his life, he barely remembered I was in the picture and had no idea Gabe was opening a shop with a business partner. Maybe it’s just the way guys are” she shrugged, if Gabe was happy then Nina was happy but she had to admit she wasn’t keen on Rocco. “Oh that must be strange but kind of cool too right? Does he remember you from the dreams?” she tried to recall what Martha had told her of regeneration before.

Martha’s brows rose slightly as Nina spoke about Gabe’s friend, “Well he sounds interesting.” The fact that this guy didn’t seem to remember certain things made Martha wonder if he’d suffered some sort of head injury at some point to cause memory issues or if he was just one of those people who were naturally spacey. “It is both strange and cool. I think he remembers me, but I don’t know if the dreams filled in everything we did together. I’ll actually have to ask him next time I see him.”

As far as Nina could tell he was maybe a little spacey but also a little self centered. But she was sure she’d come to know him better now that he was here, it seemed, to stay. “It must be a pretty weird situation but I think it would be interesting to know just how much he remembers of when it was you and the him that was the other him” she frowned a little, that had been terrible English but she figured Martha would get it.

Martha knew exactly what Nina meant and nodded, “I’m going to have to ask him if he remembers it all. It’s weird though, cause, even though he has a different face and his mannerisms are different, when I’m around him, it just feels like being around The Doctor.” She would have to ask Clara if she had felt like that when he had regenerated. Martha had only known the one regeneration, which from what she understood, had been his Tenth, but Clara had known two of them.

“Like he has the same kind of aura?” Nina said, she totally understood that after all the Dreams were crazy like that, “It might be pretty cool to hang out with him for a while”

Martha nodded, “Yeah, it’s something like that.” It would be hard to explain to anyone who didn’t dream, but luckily most of Martha’s friends were dreamers so it would make a little sense to them, “I’d love to have more than one version of him here to see if it feels like different people or the same person. Ya know, what I mean?”

Nina mostly got it, she knew how hard it was to explain some aspects of the dreams. “Oh yeah, I bet that would be really interesting. You never know, it could happen. People are always coming and going around here”

“I only wish that more people from my dreams would show up,” There were so many, but so few in the waking world, “But enough of what I want. We’re supposed to be celebrating your engagement.” Martha grinned and took a sip of her drink.

Nina used to wish the same thing but now she was settled she wasn’t sure she’d welcome it as much as she would have once. “We’re catching up too. It seems like forever since we last managed to do this” both their schedules were pretty busy.

“I guess that’s true. We definitely have to try and make more time.” Martha said, finishing off her drink, “More than every few months. Especially now that you’ll need help with wedding planning,” A grin spread across her lips at that.

“Absolutely, I’m going to need as much help as I can get. I’m not the kind of girl who has had it all planned out since she was little. I have no idea where to start” Nina said with a smile, gesturing to the barman to bring them a couple more drinks.