Author's Note: Ok, I've been sitting on this one for a while and have decided to go ahead and start posting it. This story takes place after Trial of a Time Lord and is the beginning of what I refer to as "Season 23B". What that is in a nutshell is this: after losing Peri and returning Mel to Earth, the Doctor ends up running into Jamie, who has been returned to Scotland after events in Season 6B. They decided to travel together again, and along the way, they have adventures, deal with events related to the Valeyard and rediscover the joys of being free to explore time and space. This fic will be how this fictional season started...

I do not own Doctor Who or any of its characters.

Thank you to everyone who reads/follows/favorites/reviews this. It is always appreciated.

Chapter One

Light spilled onto an aquamarine sky as a pair of suns slowly ascended into a silvery haze. It was morning in the capital city of the planet Ceitas Nova and this dawn marked the beginning of the 97th day of the Ryodon calendar.

"Anlean? Anlean, where are you?"

On the fringes of the city, a young woman wandered about the cold, cobblestone walkways which led to one of the few parks that remained within. The woman searched furtively and as quietly as possible along the high white stone walls and through the maze of hanging tapestries and wooden signs that protruded from the buildings. She was growing increasingly worried. Anlean was the one who had given her the place and time to meet him so she had expected to be waiting for him when she arrived.

"Anlean. Anlean, where are you? It's Sola."

Sola put her hand to her mouth and chewed at her thumbnail. Even though her father was an important official within the Ryodon government, she knew that it was risky for her to break city curfew.

And even riskier to chance being caught with one of the leaders of the resistance factions.

"Sola," a voice hissed from behind some bushes. "Over here."

Sola's face lit up with joy and relief and she dashed over to the source of the voice, nearly tripping over her long skirts in the process. Once she was close, a hand emerged and drew her into the foliage. She did not cry out, however, because she knew and trusted the man who had grabbed her.

"Anlean, what kept you?" she said as she clung to him. "I thought that maybe one of the sentries had caught you."

"They almost did," Anlean said with a frustrated huff. "A couple of them kept circling around my tenement section. I was starting to think that I'd never maneuver past them."

"But you did," Sola said with a smile. "You always do. You are far smarter than those hired thugs."

She circled her arms around Anlean's neck, but was dismayed to see him frown in response.

"Anlean?"

"Sola, we cannot go on this way," he said. "Not while things are like this. If anyone finds out about your involvement with me…."

"They won't," Sola insisted. "I will be careful."

"But what if they do," Anlean said. "Sola, I am certain that the marshals suspect me. If they find out about you, it won't matter who your father is. They will not be merciful."

"Anlean," Sola said, placing her palm on his cheek. "It's all right. I will not let them catch me. I promise. Anyway, things will soon be changing and then there will be no need to fear. Allasas has foretold it."

"That old woman," Anlean scoffed. "You've been listening to her prophecies again, haven't you?"

"She's been right before," Sola said. "Many times."

"And she's been wrong too," Anlean said with more vehemence than he had intended. "Frankly, the whole thing is unbelievable: a man coming down from the stars to help us. Absurd."

"And I say that it isn't," Sola said. "Allasas has seen him in her mind's eye: tall with a crown of golden hair and the voice of a poet. Blue will be his color, Anlean. He shall be draped in blue along with his vessel and he will gaze upon us with eyes like the seas. He will possess the wisdom of many ages and will seek justice for our people."

"Ridiculous dreams," Anlean replied. "Look, I know that Allasas means well, but can't you see that it's all a fantasy to keep our hopes up?"

"Why does it have to be a fantasy or a ridiculous dream?" Sola asked. "We know that there are beings out there on other planets who are not so unlike us. We've even had a few of them visit us over the last ten years."

"But those were just traders and merchants scraping out a living for themselves," Anlean said. "None of them were ever as powerful as the man that Allasas is describing. Besides, even if a man like that did exist, why should he care about Ceitas Nova? There's nothing of value here, nothing for him to gain. He would be risking his own life for nothing if he were to try to interfere in the Ryodon government's affairs."

"I don't know," Sola admitted. "But I believe in Allasas' vision. That is why we can't give up. Not when our freedom is so close at hand."

Anlean sighed and drew Sola close to him. As she wrapped her arms around his waist, he gently stroked her long, chestnut hair.

"Things will be different soon, Anlean," she murmured. "I know they will."

Anlean nodded, but did not say another word. The truth was that he believed that things would eventually be different too, but he simply could not pin his hopes on the remote possibility that Allasas' predictions would come true.

For now, the people of Ceitas Nova would have to rely on the sacrifices of its people to bring an end to their long-standing nightmare.

Millions of miles away on another world, another set of warm rays of light were heralding a new day. But this sky had only one sun hanging overhead and it was illuminating the green slopes of the Scottish moors.

At the summit of one of those slopes James Robert McCrimmon stood alone and took in a deep breath as he watched the morning begin. Even though he had seen the sun rise over this landscape many times over these past few months, the sight always managed to bring a smile to his face.

Unfortunately, that moment of happiness always seemed to pass as soon as he remembered how he had ended up here.

It had been four years since Jamie had left Scotland in the TARDIS before the Time Lords finally caught up with the Doctor. Those four years had been punctuated with many perilous adventures and exasperating moments, but they had also been a time filled with wonder, excitement and learning. In spite of all the danger he had faced and an occasional longing to see his homeland again, Jamie was satisfied with his new life as a traveler in time and space alongside the Doctor.

A large part of his contentment was due to the Doctor himself, who Jamie considered in equal measure to be a wise mentor who took the time to educate him, a brave chieftain who commanded respect and loyalty and treasured kin who had become an essential part of his life. While it was true that they occasionally quarreled, sometimes aggravated each other and had had their friendship severely tested a couple times, their shared journey had forged a bond between them that only grew stronger over time.

However, despite his great esteem and affection for the Doctor, Jamie was not blind to the strange little man's weaknesses which included a seemingly insatiable curiosity along with an uncanny knack to get himself into all kinds of trouble. Thus, Jamie had made a private, unspoken vow early on in his travels to look after the Doctor. Although he couldn't be sure of what the future would hold for him, Jamie was determined to stay at the Doctor's side for as long as he could.

Their travels came to an abrupt end, however, when he, Zoe and the Doctor put a stop to a horrific experiment involving another renegade Time Lord and a race of aliens whose lust for conquest squashed any qualms they might have had about letting hundreds of human beings fight and die on series of artificial battlefields. The enormous task of setting things right afterwards had forced the Doctor to reveal his whereabouts to his home planet and had led to a swift trial and declaration of guilt by his fellow Time Lords. Up until the last moment, Jamie had believed that the Doctor would think of some way to escape. In the end though, he had been forced along with Zoe to say goodbye to the Doctor and return to his own time.

But that moment ended up being far from the final word on the matter.

To Jamie, only a few days of aimless wandering on the moors had passed before he was reunited with the Doctor and experienced a sudden return of his memories. However, he also found out that, for the Doctor, it had been over fifty years between when his sentence was delayed by the Celestial Intervention Agency so he could work for them and when he had finally earned the right to return Jamie's memories to him and to invite him to resume their travels together.

Right after Jamie's memories were restored, the Doctor explained to him that he was no longer free and that he was under the purview of the CIA for an indefinite amount of time. He also made it clear to Jamie that, if he chose to come with him, he would also be subject to their control and would be involved in many hazardous missions. It was a tense conversation, but in the end, Jamie had insisted on leaving with him.

"So, I'll be traveling around wit' ye and gettin' into trouble up to my neck," he had responded. "Nothing unusual aboot that then. Ye need someone to look after ye and I made a promise to do jes that. I know it won' be like before, but if I can still travel wit' ye, I'll be happy enough."

That decision led to several more years of travel with the Doctor. There were frequent missions which often involved risky, grueling tasks. At first, Jamie made a show of grumbling about the situation in jest, but he soon realized that this work was taking a tremendous toll on the Doctor and that his complaints were not helping. This realization motivated Jamie to learn to hold his tongue and to cultivate a greater reserve of patience while he also worked to provide whatever support and comfort he could during this desolate time in his friend's life. Sometimes, in-between assignments, they were allowed to travel without restraint again and these were times that Jamie cherished; times when the Doctor was truly free and at peace.

Despite their many successful missions, the CIA saw no reason to request a reprieve for the Doctor from the High Council or to put an end to his servitude to them any time soon. They summoned both the Doctor and Jamie back to Gallifrey to inform the Doctor that they were needed for a series of missions that would be protracted in length and more dangerous than ever. Acting on a decision that the two of them had already made privately, the Doctor immediately requested that Jamie be returned to Earth.

However, his request was not without conditions.

"I wish to choose the time and place that Jamie will be returned to…and that he be allowed to retain his memories."

The senior members of the CIA protested loudly, citing "security issues", but the Doctor remained firm in his demands. After a couple more minutes of arguing, or bellowing in the Doctor's case, the senior supervisor finally admitted that the Doctor had gained a measure of clemency due to his work in the CIA and assented to his request. The Doctor nodded his head, smiling while Jamie finally found his voice.

"No Doctor," he said, clutching his arm. "I know we talked aboot this and I get what yer were wanting me to do, but I…I cannae. I cannae do this. I made a promise to look after ye. I should…."

The Doctor put a halt to Jamie's words by placing a hand over Jamie's and meeting his gaze.

"Jamie, please try to understand," the Doctor said softly. "These missions the CIA has lined up for me will not be like anything we've previously worked on. And there are still places and times in this universe that I don't ever want to take you to."

"But Doctor…."

"Now, we've discussed this," the Doctor continued, undeterred. "You know that you can't travel with me forever. This is your chance to build a life of your own. To have a home and maybe even a family. Jamie, give yourself a chance to truly live while you still have years ahead of you to enjoy it."

"I know, but…."

"Now stop worrying, Jamie," the Doctor insisted, reaching up to pat Jamie's shoulders. "I'm sure I'll be just fine on my own. You'll see. There's nothing to worry about."

Even though Jamie trusted him with his life, he was certain that the Doctor had just lied to him. Still, Jamie couldn't hold a grudge over it, not when he knew that the Doctor was trying so hard to reassure him. Instead, he tried to focus on the fact that his dearest friend was giving him a precious gift that had been earned with decades of perilous and thankless toil.

"You understand that you must not share your knowledge of future events and developments and that you cannot interfere with the course of history?" one of the supervisors asked him.

"Oh, aye of course," Jamie replied, scowling. "I can keep my mouth shut. What's the use of me sayin' anything anyway? It's nae like anyone would believe me."

There were a few more minutes of what Jamie saw as useless pontificating before he and the Doctor were instructed to give their farewells to each other. The Doctor turned toward Jamie with another affectionate smile on his face that was only slightly marred by the glint of despair in his eyes. Jamie tried hard to smile back, but was finding it difficult due to a growing lump in his throat.

"Will I ever see ye again?" Jamie managed to choke out.

"I should think so," the Doctor said. "It's not as if these missions will be eternal. And I'm certain that they'll be times when I can visit."

He reached over to grasp Jamie's hands warmly. The Doctor had sensed that something was amiss when he had gotten this latest summons to Gallifrey. Before they returned, the two of them had a long discussion about how the piper needed time away from the TARDIS. Thus, he and Jamie had expressed the bulk of their goodbyes a couple hours beforehand. Jamie was grateful that the Doctor had thought to do that because it had given them the time needed to say many things that needed to be said and the opportunity to express those thoughts and feelings without the cold, impartial audience they had now.

Still, that did not make these final farewells any less difficult.

"Are ye sure aboot all this, Doctor?" Jamie continued, his eyes starting to sting. "I, I mean, ye said yerself that you don' know what's going to happen or how long this whole thing will be. What if ye…?"

"Jamie," the Doctor said, his head tilting for a moment before he pointed a finger at Jamie's nose. "As I've said before, time is relative."

"Ye keep sayin' that, but I don' see what…."

"It means that time is like a river," the Doctor interrupted, his voice still quiet and patient but steeped in emotion. "And even if the river never stops moving, there's no reason why we can't dive in anywhere we want to."

The Doctor patted Jamie's shoulder again, letting his hand linger so he could clasp it firmly but gently.

"We'll see each other again," the Doctor said. "I promise you."

Jamie nodded and swallowed hard before shaking the Doctor's hand.

"All right," he said roughly. "But until then, try to stay out of trouble, will ye? At least once in a while."

"Jamie, what do you take me for?" the Doctor said, his eyebrows furrowed and his tone light with mock annoyance. "It's not as if I purposely seek out trouble."

"No, ye jes have a way of drawing it toward ye anyway," Jamie scoffed. "At any rate, take care of yerself and I'll see ye soon."

Then Jamie was waved toward a large machine which reminded him a little too much of the machines the War Chief had used to transport people. As he stepped inside, he glanced back to see the Doctor standing near a console covered in switches and buttons.

"What are you doing, Doctor?" one the technicians spluttered. "Those readouts…."

"Don't worry, I'm just making a couple minor adjustments," the Doctor replied. "The main circuits will recalibrate as soon as I've cleared these time coordinates."

"But, but if you do that…we won't be able to keep track of the Tellurian," the technician continued.

"That was my intention," the Doctor snapped. "Once Jamie leaves, they'll be no reason for the CIA to have any record of where he was sent to."

"Doctor," one of his CIA supervisors said. "One day, you may discover that you have overstepped your bounds."

"Perhaps," the Doctor replied, narrowing his eyes. "But I think we both know just how far away that day truly is."

The Doctor glared at the supervisor for several seconds before the Time Lord frowned and walked away. Then the Doctor gave Jamie one last nod and wave. Jamie made sure to smile back before taking a deep breath and walking through the doorway.

A cloud had blotted out the sun for a few moments while Jamie stared at the scenery in front of him, lost in thought. The resulting gloom had been a perfect complement to the feelings that were dredged up when he remembered leaving the Doctor alone on Gallifrey. Whenever he recalled that moment, he tried to remind himself that this was what they agreed on and that the Doctor would not have wanted him to spend the rest of his life mourning over what happened. Most of the time, this tactic was sufficient to improve his mood.

On mornings like this when it didn't, Jamie found solace in going on solitary hikes on the moors. The smell of the air and the chance to enjoy these familiar landscapes always lifted his spirits to some extent. As he ambled along, Jamie thought about the life he had had since coming back to Earth.

He had been more than a little disoriented when his eyes cleared and he suddenly found himself standing alone in a large field seconds after stepping into the machine. Once he had spent a few minutes surveying the scene around him, Jamie began to suspect that he was not on the battlefield of Culloden in the year 1745.

His suspicions were proven correct when found a village not too far from where he had reappeared and found out that he had ended up miles and years away from where and when he had originally been taken away in the TARDIS. Following the Doctor's instructions, one of the first things that Jamie did was seek out the address that had been scribbled on a piece of paper that he had tucked away in his sporran. The address turned out to be that of a Scottish Earl, who welcomed him as soon as Jamie produced an envelope that the Doctor had also told him to carry with him.

"Ah yes, you must be James McCrimmon," the earl had replied after opening the envelope and scanning the contents.

"Aye, I'm Jamie McCrimmon."

"I believe we have a mutual friend," the earl said. "Doctor Von Wer? Fascinating man and a splendid dinner guest. He told me that you would be coming and entrusted me with some things that he wished for you to have."

The earl produced an ornate, wooden box with a lock and Jamie swiftly deduced that this was why the Doctor had also given him a key along with the papers. Inside the box were bundles of gold coins and some more papers. Jamie scanned the papers and discovered that they were legal in nature and pertained to rights of ownership.

"From my understanding, these were to be a sort of trust for you," the earl explained. "With this you can procure your own land and still have enough to carve out a decent living for yourself and maybe even for a family."

Jamie nodded at regular intervals while the earl continued to talk. But at that moment, his mind was focused on everything that had unfolded since returning to Earth and on the Doctor's role in all of this.

'It's like he planned it,' he thought. 'No…no I'm sure he did. That's why he wanted to choose where I ended up and why he wanted me to remember everything. He prolly set all this up right after I joined up wit' him again….mebbe even before that…'

'He planned all this for me…and he was nae able to do anything for himself.'

"So, McCrimmon," the earl finally asked him. "Now that your future is secure, any thoughts as to what lies ahead?"

Jamie wanted to give him a polite or at least sensible answer, but he couldn't say a word.

For he was absolutely certain that, if he started to speak, he would also start to weep.

Hours passed and eventually Jamie stopped to rest on a large flat rock on the edge of the moor and gaze at the house in the distance that was his home. He had bought a small plot of land to farm with the funds the Doctor had given him and had built himself a house near the center of his land. It was a modest homestead, but it was comfortable and provided him with plenty to keep him occupied.

When he wasn't wandering around on the moors or tending to his farm, Jamie spent time in a village a few miles from where he lived. His travels with the Doctor had made it so that Jamie was able to quickly adjust to living in places and times that were frequently very different from where and when he had come from. As a result, he managed to integrate himself into the community with relative ease. Overall, his days were pleasant and productive, and Jamie was mostly content in his new life.

Still, there were thoughts and feelings creeping in the corners of his heart and mind that made it impossible for him to find real peace. Regret and bitterness over how his travels had ended, worries about the Doctor and a sort of melancholy due to so many things remaining unfinished continued to fester inside Jamie's soul. Despite knowing that it was futile to hold onto these thoughts and feelings, Jamie was certain that he would never be able to let go of them.

At least, not until the Doctor fulfilled his promise to return so he could see how things turned out for him.

Months passed and when they culminated into a year since he had come back to Scotland, Jamie began to consider the possibility that he might not see the Doctor ever again.

Standing up from the rock he had been sitting on, Jamie frowned and resumed walking.

'Mebbe he forgot his promise,' he mused. 'No…no he wouldn't do that. He acts like things slip his mind, but I'm nae daft enough to believe that. But then if he dinna forget…mebbe he cannae come back. Mebbe he….he's nae around anymore to keep his promise….'

Jamie shook his head as he dismissed that thought. He remembered a CIA mission that led to him meeting one of the Doctor's future selves. Thus, Jamie reasoned that the Doctor must have survived after they were separated due to the existence of that later incarnation.

'Then why hasn't he come back? Unless…unless he dinna want to….'

Jamie's frown deepened as his mood continued to sink. He knew that it was not good to dwell on ideas like that. He decided to do something to help him brush aside his gloom and figured that stopping by the village to visit some friends would be a good course of action.

Later that afternoon, Jamie walked into the local pub and grinned as he was waved over to a table near the back by Sean and Daniel Graeme, two of a set of three brothers who had befriended him not long after he had moved to the area.

"Aye, Jamie so what's new wit' ye, eh?" Sean asked. "The crops keepin' ye busy?"

Jamie shook his head and waved a barmaid over so he could order some ale and sandwiches before responding.

"No, nae much happening now," Jamie said. "I was jes out strolling the moors."

"The way you spent so much time there, ye act like they'll disappear one morning," Daniel said.

"Ah, I jes like taking in the land is all," Jamie said sheepishly. "There's nothing quite like it."

"That's true, verra true," Sean said, nodding sagely. "I get why ye do that during the day. What I don' get is why ye spend so much time at night looking at the stars. You tryin' to divine something out of them?"

"No, nae that," Jamie said. "It's jes…I used to know someone who loved the stars. A friend. Anam cara. He's…well, I don' know when or if I'll see him again, but whenever I see the stars, I think of him."

"Anam cara. Aye, I see," Sean said softly. "Yer soul friend. Well don' worry. Ye're bound to see him again in this life or the next one."

Jamie smiled wistfully for a second before changing the subject. The food and drink soon arrived and Jamie continued to happily converse with his friends when another figure, the third Graeme brother, Parlan, approached the table.

"Ah where ye been?" Daniel asked as Parlan sat down.

"Jes runnin' by old McLaren's place," Parlan answered. "I told him I'd drop off some things for him from. But ye would nae believe what I saw on the way here."

"What was it then?" Sean asked.

"It was in a field nae far from yer place, Jamie," Parlan continued. "There was a huge blue box on one of the slopes. I started to walk toward it when I saw the strangest chap ye ever did see sittin' nae tae far from it. He was sittin' on a rock, jes staring at the fields. I said 'hullo' to him, but he dinna seem to hear me."

Sean and Daniel nodded thoughtfully as they took in this odd story, but Jamie's eyes grew wide and were filled with a mixture of disbelief, excitement and joy.

'Doctor!'

"Parlan!" Jamie said, jumping to his feet. "Where did ye say this was?"

"I told ye," Parlan huffed. "About half a mile from yer place. Up over that one slope with the three rocks stacked on top each other."

Jamie yanked out some money and laid it on the table.

"Here, I need to go," he said. "Go ahead and put the rest on your bills. I'll come back before tae long."

Then Jamie dashed out of the pub leaving three very confused Graeme brothers behind.

As the sun started to wane into the evening hours, Jamie continued to race along the path leading to the field Parlan had mentioned. Even though he was becoming short of breath from all the running, he did not slow down and the grin that had appeared on his face as he ran had not budged in the slightest.

'He's here. It must be him. He dinna forget his promise….'

Soon he caught sight of the "huge blue box" Parlan had mentioned and instantly recognized it as the TARDIS. Jamie grinned even more and searched the surrounding area.

"Doctor?" he called out. "Doctor, where are ye?"

He was about to shout again when he caught sight of a figure sitting on a mossy rock a few yards away. The figure turned toward him, and Jamie's mouth fell open at the sight that greeted him, a sight he had not expected.

'Doctor?'