Jo tossed and turned restlessly like a child who couldn't sit still. Sleep eluded her, like it often did on the 2nd January, but this 2nd January was different, special. It was exactly ten years to the day since she first met the Doctor. Doctor, the word still sent warm shivers down her spine, made her insides twist into knots then slowly melt. That wonderful, handsome, charming Doctor. Jo looked down at her husband, Professor Clifford Jones sleeping next to her and she sighed heavily, "it used to be you next to me Doctor," she whispered, "it – should be you."
Slowly pushing back the covers, Jo slid out of bed, shivering in her thin pyjamas. Careful not to wake Cliff, she knelt down at the foot of the bed in front of a large wooden chest and gently eased it open. Inside the chest were folds and scraps of material, various photographs and notes of Cliff's works; Jo rifled around amongst it all, searching for a blanket to take away the sudden chill that had washed over her when her hands brushed across something warm and soft.
A fleece blanket, with the U.N.I.T. logo on it, Jo smiled fondly, she'd snaffled a few things from her U.N.I.T. days, things that weren't supposed to be snaffled. Underneath the blanket lay another wooden chest, one half the size of the one it lay in. Jo lifted it out, stood up, slowly padded across the carpeted floor and slipped out the door, carrying the blanket on top of the box.
The only light in the front room was that of a table lamp, it cast a warm and inviting glow across the room as Jo set the box down on the coffee table, wrapped the blanket about her small, slim frame and settled on the floor. She opened the box, wincing slightly as it made an awful squeaking sound. Her head whipped towards the door but she was alright, Cliff hadn't heard. Inside this box were various objects, photographs and scraps of paper. They were memories, mementos, and keepsakes from her U.N.I.T. years. Cliff hated her going through this box, hated hearing about all her adventures, about her wonderful past…about the Doctor. Cliff didn't like the Doctor all that much, Jo knew that, but it didn't mean she couldn't still think of him.
Jo took her time sifting through the box, savouring every memory that flowed back into her mind. There was a discarded bit of plastic from her very first day at U.N.I.T. ten years ago when the Master arrived on the scene and helped the Nestine ensue chaos and death by plastic, she still couldn't pass a window full of mannequins without running.
Jo smiled as she remembered how she had accidentally ruined the Doctor's steady-state micro welding experiment by putting it out with a fire extinguisher because she thought his whole work bench was going to go up in flames only to be told that kind of experiment 'always creates more smoke than fire' and to have the Doctor call her a 'ham fisted bun vendor.' Underneath the plastic was a penny the Doctor had given her, after taking the whole 'penny for your thoughts' phrase literally. Laughing, Jo recalled how she'd complained time and time again that the Doctor never listened to a word she said and then the next day he strolled into the lab, pressed a penny into her small ringed hand and listened to her for three whole hours.
But then, Jo found what she'd really been looking for. Her fingers found the softness of velvet and she stroked it gently, it was a bowtie, once belonging to the Doctor. It was TARDIS blue, Jo had bought it for him. To match a suit he'd gotten to take her out dancing to celebrate a year of knowing each other back in 1972, to get the suit, Jo remembered, the Doctor had casually sauntered into the Brigadier's office and asked for some money. Wanted to look suave for a lady he'd said. The Brigadier had just handed him the money, claimed he didn't want to know and dismissed the Doctor from his office like an annoying pet. But Jo had never understood why the Doctor had wanted the suit to look suave, he always looked suave.
The Doctor's idea of going out dancing was packing up Bessie with a gramophone and driving Jo out to the top of a hill and dancing with her while the lights of the entire city twinkled below them, they'd done this a few times before, the first time being their first Christmas at U.N.I.T. Jo smiled warmly at the memories of dancing, the Doctor could be extremely romantic sometimes, even if he never wanted to acknowledge it.
Tying the bowtie around her wrist, Jo closed the box and took it back upstairs. She put it back where she hid it from Cliff then went to her wardrobe. In there, she found a soft velvet dress, the blue of the TARDIS. The dress she'd worn when she and the Doctor went dancing on their first anniversary, Jo hoped and willed as she pulled the dress over her head, it still fit. She smiled broadly, continued dressing then, glancing back at the still slumbering Cliff, crept down the stairs and out the front door.
The night air was cold on Jo's bare shoulders as a winter breeze whipped her hair across her face. She walked carefully along the frosted pavements, she knew where she was going, if she was going to celebrate ten years of knowing the Doctor, she was going to do it in a place that meant something to them both. Jo reached the top of the hill, her eyes greeted by a familiar silhouette, Bessie, and then there, standing away from Bessie, facing away, silhouetted against the night sky…The Doctor.
Jo smiled, even from the back he hadn't changed a lot, except his hair was a lot more bouffant-y. She noticed that music was playing, the same music that had played all those years ago. With a smile on her face and in her heart, Jo began walking up behind the Doctor, but then all of a sudden he dropped to his knees, and his shoulders began to shake…he was crying.
Seeing the Doctor cry was a rare and unusual sight, she'd only seen it once, twice if she counted now. As she got closer to him she heard his wept words, "oh Jo, ten years have passed since we first met. But I know you have a new life with Cliff, I'll never see you again." Jo smiled, touched at his sentiment, she went to tap him on the shoulder but instead she giggled silently, "turn around you daft Time Lord!"
The Doctor turned, daring to hope, standing behind him was Jo. His Jo. He straightened up and wiped his eyes quickly with the back of his hand, trying to pretend he hadn't been crying but it didn't wash with Jo. She knew him well. "Oh Doctor, I've missed you so much!" she threw her arms round his neck and he lifted her off the floor, "not as much as I've missed you my dear girl!" all traces of sadness had vanished from the Doctor's face, replaced with happiness and joy.
He dared to drop a verging on passionate kiss on Jo's lips, then he giggled, "oops, sorry, can't do that. You're a married woman."
"Didn't stop you last time," Jo laughed, "last time you saw me, you gave me a proper kiss!"
"Last time?"
"Yes, you appeared in Llanfairfach, walked into me, passionately kissed me in the middle of a wood then took me off for a trip in the TARDIS!"
"Ah, yes," the Doctor blushed, "may I do it again?"
Jo grinned, "as much as I'd like to say yes, I think we better be good this time." The Doctor nodded then cleared his throat, "speaking of Llanfairfach, why aren't you there?"
"We moved," Jo shrugged, "I wanted to be back here, here is my home, regardless of whether I'm with Cliff or not." She studied the Doctor, he was wearing the TARDIS blue jacket from all that time ago, but he looked odd dressed up so nicely without a… "oh by the way," Jo untied the bowtie from her wrist and slipped it round the Doctor's neck, "I thought you might want this."
"I was looking for that," the Doctor mused, "did you snaffle it when you left?"
Jo nodded and the Doctor smiled, "well then you may snaffle it back again when we're done."
Confusion flickered in Jo's wide sparkling eyes, "done with what?"
The Doctor cleared his throat again, gave a gentlemanly bow and held out a hand, "Miss Josephine Grant, may I have the honour?"
Jo nodded, "of course Doctor," time seemed to stand still as she took his hand and allowed him to lead her in one last dance.