Restoration

The robotic dog had spent many lifetimes traveling through the stars with his curly-haired Master, and took great pride (in a non-emotional, robotic sort of way, of course) in the many ways he'd provided valuable assistance. After all, not every dog can fire a laser beam out of its nose or hold the entire knowledge of the universe in its servos.

But recently, his Mistress had been Sarah Jane Smith, once a companion of the Doctor but now firmly ensconced on Earth with her son, Luke. It had been K9's duty - one could even say pleasure - to act as Luke's friend and guardian. Yet, as the years passed, K9 found himself thinking more and more about his former Master, the man known as The Doctor.

He'd been witness to several of the Doctor's regenerations and, oddly, K9 found himself contemplating what the Doctor looked like now. He certainly didn't fool himself into thinking that they'd ever meet again, but still ...

However, the time had come to put away petty thoughts. Mistress needed him and despite the fact that he had been unable to speak or even move for several years, his brain was still fully functional. The robotic dog had been attempting to devise some method of communication for several months now, with little success, when he suddenly found himself unceremoniously wrapped in a blanket and bundled into the boot of Mistress' car. He was able to keep track of his whereabouts on his impromptu journey and when the car slowed, then stopped and the engine shut off, K9 realized that they were now at Deffry Vale High School.

K9 knew that Mistress had been working on a story about the school's new Headmaster, a Mr. Finch, and during her research had discovered some … inconsistencies about both the school and Mr. Finch. Fortunately for K9, Sarah Jane had never lost her habit of speaking aloud to her pet so while he could not at present offer any concrete assistance, he was at least up-to-date on her investigations.

K9 sat in the dark, slightly messy boot of the car with his mind, but nothing else, whirring. Suddenly the trunk opened and unknown hands reached in, pulled him out and placed him on the ground. A strange voice said delightedly, "K9!" As the conversation continued on around him, K9 began to feel that he should know that voice; he could sense recognition lingering around the edges of his awareness, but he couldn't quite grasp what was going on or who was speaking. All he knew was that the strange man had picked him up and they were on the move again.

K9 was still extremely confused at what was going on when he felt hands rummaging around his servos and then … oh … oh! A familiar whirring sounded and he immediately realized who was tinkering around with his insides. Master was back! There was a click, and then a bang and suddenly all was right in K9's world again. He could see! He could move! Most importantly, he could speak!

After so long entrapped in his dark, silent existence, it felt so good to be once again fully functioning. As K9 looked on the most recent face of the Doctor, the man he'd never thought to see once more, the robotic companion took great pleasure in the fact that his first spoken word, after so long, was "Master."

A/N: This is my first attempt at a "Doctor Who" story. The challenge was to write for a fandom for which you've never written. While I'm a big fan of Doctor Who, I've only written for Sherlock (BBC) and Merlin, so I found this to be a big challenge for me. We won't mention the number of times I started and then scrapped everything to start over. That being said, I'd love to know what you think of this little one-shot!