A/N: …This Doctor Who fanfic was born out of boredom (as most of mine are) and I wanted to see if I can write a DW fanfiction entry shorter than the one I've already put forward for the school writing competition We are Writers, and I think I succeeded but not by much. This was my first time writing the Ninth Doctor and my second or third time writing Sarah-Jane, so I'm very proud of it in that sense. It's a different storyline in which the Doctor (Ninth) and Sarah-Jane kept in touch and eventually became good friends who can stay over with each other, but I'm looking to sabotage that… in a good way! And the TARDIS is on my side. Now, I give you…
The TARDIS Matchmaker
A flighty blue tinged with royal purple, not a soul to be found on the exterior.
Interior, maybe. We hear allot of tinkering, still a person nowhere to be seen. Finally we see a gangly man of something like his late thirties or early forties, and he's wearing his trademark-pending 'repair goggles'.
"What's wrong, old girl? I can't help you if you don't tell me."
The TARDIS, in response, lurched and caused him to topple from the bit of open floor he was working on.
"Oh, that's very nice! I keep you running and you try to give me a broken neck!" the Doctor yelled, removing himself from the wire-plastered floor he had fallen on, "You know what? You're a bloody temperamental old cow; if you're so great without me then I say I should let you fall apart!"
Something whined, but he wasn't sure if it was his ship breaking down or asking for forgiveness, "I don't care if I'm stuck here if I don't fix you, it'll give you time think over our relationship." heavy plods of his dark boots, and he was gone.
The TARDIS could tell that he wasn't angry at her but himself, and put a plan into action.
A few hours later and the Doctor walked back into the console room, having been beaten by his own conscience, "I'm sorry old girl, I don't know what came over me…" he noticed a change. Minuscule at first, but growing in his mind, "Why is the phone out of the receiver?" he contemplated putting it back in its proper place, but reasoned that it was out for a reason – probably the TARDIS getting back at him, but he decided to see who was on the other end anyway, "Whoever you are, you've got a wrong number."
"Doctor?"
He nearly choked on his own saliva, "Sarah-Jane! How are you?"
"I'm fine, really. And a wrong number? You called me."
The Doctor thought about it, probably another one of the TARDIS' tricks, "I think the TARDIS is unhappy with me; I've been yelling at her allot lately." he admitted.
"Oh… so you wouldn't want to talk with me?"
He immediately backtracked, "No, of course I would! It's just… I've had allot on my mind lately and I don't even know what allot of it is."
He heard a hesitation on the line, "Maybe you need a break from the universe, clear your head."
The Doctor chuckled, "If you know a day spa that doesn't want to wring my neck for something or other, by all means book me in!"
"No… I mean just stay with a friend with a few days."
The Doctor asked skeptically, "Are you and queen mud here trying to get me out of her? It's a lovely idea, Sarah, but I…"
"I won't take no for an answer! You know my address?"
"I swear you're going a bit mad with Luke not there. Okay, but I'm packing first – I'm not letting you just grab me out with no warning and no toothbrush like last time."
"You've got everything?" she asked, helping him lug his bags into her house.
"Yep. Toiletries, pajamas…"
"Your TARDIS key and the sonic screwdriver?"
They put the bags on the floor and the Doctor pattered around his jacket as Sarah-Jane gave him a knowing look, "Nope, neither of those." he quickly raced back into the TARDIS, came out five minutes later and locked her up before returning.
"It took you that long to find two things that you carry around with you every day?"
The Doctor nodded, "The old girl's been moving more than rooms around lately; I swear she's trying to make me senile."
"You don't need her help to be like that. Right!" she said, clapping her hands together, "I trust you're going to unpack your own things?"
"Can't I have a cuppa first?" the Doctor whined, "It was hard work getting here from deep space."
"You're ridiculous! Okay," she accepted, patting him on the side, "But you're getting your stuff up those steps straight away afterwards! And there better not be anything alien in those bags; I have enough of that in my attic already."
"Yes miss, I'll do as I'm told." the Doctor joked, sitting at the table.
"Well if you're being so agreeable, you could stand to lose a bit of weight." she poked him in his burgeoning belly for emphasis, "You must be going overboard on the takeaways."
The Doctor took minor offence by this and whinged, "Well I'm sorry, but until we're married with half a dozen kids you don't control my waistline." he blushed as soon as he realized what he had just implied, but went back to being angry when Sarah-Jane started laughing at him.
"Steady on! Let's live together first – oh wait, we are!" she found as soon as she started laughing she couldn't stop, and eventually dissolved into fits of giggles next to him.
"Oh yes, I forgot it's 'pick on the Doctor day'. If it's all the same to you, I've had a long day and I think I'll forgo the tea and head straight to bed."
"You can't run off when things are turning the wrong way for you!" she yelled, only turning to see him run up the staircase and disappear.
Sleep, for the Doctor, was hard to come by. As a Time Lord, his biology was mostly superior to that of a human and he could last allot longer without the recommended eight hours. But of course, tonight he was willing himself to go to sleep, lest he try and apologize.
The TARDIS' warm presence evaded him as he sat up against the bed, finding that everything reminded him of the woman he was now sharing living space with. Which wasn't surprising considering it was her house, but the fact did nothing to decrease that curious pain in his hearts.
He noticed a picture frame of the bedside table, the glass broken possibly in rage. From what little he could make out, it was an old photo of one of their last trips together. His old cheesy scarf and winning smile stood out against the fading colours, a mockery of him now.
"It's still fresh in my mind, you know; the day you left me."
"Sarah!" he hid the photo under the sheets, in his haste accidentally turning on the lamp, "You've been crying?"
"It was the Time War, you said," she ignored his flinch, "But what you didn't account for was who you'd leave behind."
"I couldn't bring a human back with me to Gallifrey while a war was raging, I was obeying one of the oldest laws!" the Doctor bellowed, "Don't you think I would have wanted you by my side so we could destroy everything together? I destroyed it all on my own; Gallifrey, Skaro and all the surrounding planets, and then I died alone in the TARDIS while I ran away from what I'd done."
"I could have been a stowaway!" she was beginning to think this was turning into a shouting match, "You don't have to cope with all this on your own."
"I would never let you die just by being next to me! Allot of people have thought they'd live forever as my companion, but it doesn't happen and some day we all have to face up to our own mortality."
Sarah-Jane looked hurt and said, "But I'm not them." she shook her head as tears pricked her eyes, "No, you'd never let me die and we could have gone back to the TARDIS together."
"When I ended the Time War, I ended all life in and around it. I just got lucky and got to the TARDIS in time; it wouldn't have been the same for you. I would have had to watch you die before my eyes, it would have gone mad!"
She put her hands to his, finally showing her tear-stained face in comparison to his own, "Wouldn't it have been worth it… if we got to spend a few more days together?"
"Rather a day or two than none at all," the Doctor agreed, tears still falling heavier, "But the devastation was nearly in the vicinity of Earth, I can't help but think what would have happened to you if…"
She shushed him, saying, "Then I would have known you tried."
The Doctor looked into her eyes and for a second he seemed so childlike, "Why do my hearts keep getting broken, Sarah?"
Sarah-Jane shook her head and returned his gaze as she leaned in, "They'll never be broken again."
As the TARDIS' plan came to fruition, she was overjoyed for her pilot and chuckled to herself, knowing it meant she'd be seeing them together allot more.
The End
A/N: …I'm uploading this at 3:40am. Because I can! And if I ever go to sleep, I want to be able to wake up to some nice reviews. Everyone I showed this to at school loved the ending, which I think is really open-ended and might leave room for a non-entry sequel. Now go on, review! If any of you have a noisy brother like I do, you'll also be up and surfing the web at this time XD