Okay, so this started out as a prompt by my friend telling me to include "the doctor talking to a dog in baby talk." And turned in to this. Note: I do not own any of the characters in this.
"Is this your dog?" The Doctor paused on the street as they passed by another couple.
"No."
"Doctor!" Amy sighed, "What is it with you and picking up strays and finding homes for them?"
"I don't go around picking up strays!"
"Right."
"Name a one other stray I've picked up!"
"Me."
"Oh, I wouldn't call you a stray. You have a home."
"So does this one." She nodded, "Can't we just look at the dog tag?"
"What for?"
She looked at him as though he was simple, "The address of where it lives. They have those. Or we'll find where they were registered, and get the address from there."
He smiled, "Oh! That is a good idea. Well, let's ask what this little guy thinks. Well, puppy, wha do yoo fink? Wanna go home now? I'll bet yoo do. So, lemme see this tag, huh? Yeah. Where do yoo live?"
He glanced up at Amy who was staring at him opened-mouthed. His expression of worry pushed her over the edge and she burst out laughing.
"What?"
She snickered a bit more, "Wha do yoo fink? Doctor, you just talked baby talk to a dog."
"Nine hundred years old, and he's talking in baby talk, to a dog." Rory muttered.
"Yeah? So what?"
"Doctor, you can't talk baby talk! It's…odd."
"Why can't I use baby talk?"
She stared at him, "Because…because you can't. Look, I'll add it to the list of things you're never allowed to say. Ever."
"There's a list? I didn't know there's a list! Where is this list?"
"Back on the TARDIS! It includes "who's da man!"
"Why do you get to make a list?"
"Never said I couldn't did you?"
"Well…you can't!"
"I already started, so obviously I can. Let's go drop this off at…Jackie Tyler's. We'd better find out where that is." She looked up at the Doctor's face, and saw this look of total and absolute horror on his face. "Doctor?"
"I know where she lives."
"Doctor?"
"I knew her daughter, Rose. Don't refer to me as Doctor when we get there. I'd rather not be slapped again."
"Doctor, before we go, I think that you'd better tell me the story." Amy frowned and looked him straight in his face, then took the dog.
The Doctor sighed, and looked down, "Then let's go sit down. It's a long, sad story."
-11-11-11-11-11-11-
"I met her after I regenerated into the ninth me. I picked her up when she was nineteen: she saved me from a Nestene consciousness. She saved me from myself: she was my first companion after the time war. I was sad, I was jaded…everything I was, she wasn't. She was happy, she was bright, and she was innocent.
"We went though so much together. The Slitheen, the Gelth, the Mighty Jagrafess of Maxarodenfoe, through The Empty Children too. Until the Daleks. She saved me again: she looked into the heart of the TARDIS…and she destroyed them. But she had seen all of time, and she couldn't survive that. I couldn't survive that. But I took it from her, and then I had to regenerate. A new me, but she still stayed. I don't know why, but she stayed.
"And there were so many more monsters and enemies. She was always there, no matter what. No matter how many times she almost died, no matter how I behaved towards her, she didn't leave me. But then came Canary Wharf. Then came the Cybermen and the Daleks."
"You loved her." Rory stated.
"You loved her," Amy repeated, "And she died."
"No. She didn't die. She got trapped in an alternate universe. I thought I would never see her again, and I never told her…I had so many chances, but I didn't. I traveled a bit with this woman called Martha Jones, and then with my best friend Donna Noble. They were both brilliant. But no one could make up for Rose. Like you and Rory, do you remember? You weren't really happy until you saw him again.
"And then I did see her again. She contacted Donna, and told her to tell me Bad Wolf. That's who she was. Rose was Bad Wolf. And Bad Wolf was the end of the universe. The universe almost ended, a hand that got cut off became a human me, and then," he paused.
"She had to go back, didn't she?" Amy asked.
"Yes."
"And you couldn't go with her." Rory said.
"Yes. But he could. I left him with her; he needed her. Oh, so much. He was as broken as I was after the Time War."
"How long did you travel alone?"
"Long enough. The Master came back. Things happened, and then I had to regenerate. Donna's father was about to die of radiation poisoning. I couldn't let that happen. So I took it instead. And I saw her one more time, a year before I met her."
"I'm sorry." Amy hugged The Doctor.
"Don't." He said, standing up. "She's happy." He picked up the dog and smiled. "Now let's go."
Rory placed a hand on Amy's shoulder. She looked up at him, and smiled. "I know what he means."
"Me too."
"Come on! And remember what I told you about calling me Doctor in front of Jackie!"
The stood up and walked behind The Doctor, holding hands.
-11-11-11-11-11-11-
The Doctor knocked on the door of an apartment, and a young girl with blonde hair opened it. He blinked in surprise.
"Hello?" She asked, looking at the three of them.
"Does a Jackie Tyler live here?"
"You want mum? One second. Mum!" She called, never taking her eyes off the three strangers.
"What is it Rose?"
"Three people are here!"
"What do they want?"
"What do you want?"
The Doctor stared at the girl with a look of absolute incomprehension. Rory stepped forward, "We found this dog; is it yours?"
"Oh! Mum! They found Wolf!"
"Did they?" Jackie Tyler came out into the doorway, "Well, I guess they did. Thank you!"
"Oh Wolf!" Rose cried, "Come here! Oh, come here, you bad dog, you! Bad Wolf running away like that! Bad, bad doggie! Did you know how much I missed you? Bad, bad Wolf!" She squealed when the small dog ran in, and licked her face, "Missed you so much, you silly!"
"Well, thank you, but there is no reward." Jackie said with a frown.
The Doctor recovered his senses, "The smile on your daughter's face is reward enough. We'll leave you three alone now."
"Thank you." Jackie said, glancing down at Rose and the puppy.
"Thank you!" Rose cried, smiling widely up at them. The three travelers retreated down the hall with a few waves.
Once outside, The Doctor sighed and glance up at the building. Amy and Rory ran ahead of him, and he said quietly, so that they didn't hear, "I missed that smile."
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