A/N Ok after some classic doctor who one shots, here's a classic and modern who crossover. I've always thought that Ian and Rory have similar outlooks and I thought it would be interesting to get them in a room together and discuss the doctor and more importantly how the ones they loved shaped them and made them do things they never thought possible. Just to let you guys know I do know about the line from Sarah Jane adventures about Ian and Barbara aging but I never liked this idea while I like the fact they made Ian and Barbara's marriage canon, I choose to believe that he immortality thing was just a rumour that was completely unsubstantiated. I just think there's more drama to be had to have them age. Oh by the way this is set after the god complex after the Doctor drops them back on earth but it takes place before the doctor sees them in the doctor the widow and the wardrobe.
Rory felt a feeling of trepidation as he walked up to the house. It looked fairly normal if a little grand and austere, it was massive and it was in Chelsea. He had to just stand back and marvel at it but it also made him wonder. Why he'd been called here? The people who lived here were clearly spectacularly rich so why would they need him to do this check up. Bog standard NHS nurse.
He knocked on the door and heard the knocks echo through the huge corridor. As he stood there twiddling his thumbs, he noticed that there was a painting and in that painting was the Tardis. He tried to angle himself for a better look but he heard footsteps so stood up straight and tried to pretend he hadn't been nosing around this person's hallway.
This person opened the door to reveal, a blonde, middle age woman. She looked about 60 and she didn't look like she'd taken any plastic surgery or Botox which he thought must be a pre requisite for most of the people that lived around here. She wore some make up and the mascara she wore emphasise her sharp hazel eyes but as she saw him, she smiled "Good you're here" she said excitedly.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" he said politely ignoring his urge to ask about the message and why she had insisted on a male nurse. Whilst it wasn't uncommon for someone to be gender specific when it came to which nurse visited them. It was uncommon for a woman to ask for a male nurse. He had a brief thought that maybe her intentions weren't honourable and hoped she saw his wedding ring.
"Yes there is, I called you because I'm worried about Ian and I was hoping you could give him a check up." She said briskly.
"Well that explains the male nurse request" he thought.
"I'm sorry to call you all the way out here but I didn't know where to turn. He refuses to go to the doctor's and… I'm just so scared for him" she said with genuine panic.
Rory had encountered this before and he groaned inwardly one of the worst things for a nurse to deal with is an uncooperative patient but he smiled warmly. "Where is Ian exactly?" he inquired.
"Oh he's in his study, it's on the top floor" she said matter of factly and she led him to the lift and he tried not to look at the painting, a part of him to leave the doctor and his crazy adventures behind him behind him. He shook his head and reminded himself that he had a health check up to perform.
"As they exited the lift into the study, it was almost like entering into a Jane Austen novel. There was wood panelling everywhere and every wall seemed to be covered in books and so did quite a bit of the floor. In the corner were a leather chair and a lamp where an old man was seated. He was older than the woman and his hair what was left it was completely white. His eyes were bloodshot and his skin was covered with fine wrinkles.
Rory coughed "Hello Ian" he said cheerfully.
"So you're the nurse are you well as I said to Polly, I am perfectly fine and I don't need anyone poking sticks at me to prove it" he said barely moving the paper he was holding to talk to him.
Rory said calmly "There is nothing to worry about this a standard 10 minute examination which won't take that long if you co-operate."
"Why should I co-operate?" he said bitterly "Why should I waste 10 minutes of my life subjecting to this health check up, it doesn't matter anyway, I'll die anyway and I'd rather use the 10 minutes productively"
Polly started to sob softly at this and this made Ian soften and slowly get up and embrace her. It was strange how paternal the embrace was as if this middle aged woman was a child. He patted her on the back. He whispered something in her ear and she smiled sadly and started to leave.
"You promise?" she asked
"I promise" she went towards the door leaving them to it. There was an awkward silence.
"You have a very caring wife" Rory remarked as they listened to her walk down the stairs
Ian looked puzzled "She's not my wife. She's my wife's cousin she rents the flat below."
"I am so sorry" Rory said genuinely flustered "I thought since she showed me up and how concerned she was, I am so sorry if I caused offence.
Ian just chuckled and sat back on his chair "You haven't caused offence, you made several observations and they led you to the wrong conclusion, you need to think things through better." He said sounding a bit like his old science teacher. He had an air of wisdom about him which Rory respected but unfortunately with that wisdom came a certain irascibility. Ian muttered to himself and sat down.
Since he was comfortable he decided to start the check up "Well before we get started do you have any health problems that you'd like to tell me about" Rory said professionally.
Ian sat in silence and just stared at him for a bit as if he was trying to get a grasp on how to deal with him eventually he said "I'm fine apart from this damn cough" the moment he mentioned it he started coughing violently, he managed to control himself. But if Rory had anything to do with it then a very good chest x ray was in this man's future.
"Is there any history of illness in your family" Rory said getting back on track.
"No we all tend to die before illness gets us, as things are going at the moment I'll be the first Chesterton to die of natural causes" he said morosely but there was the barest hint of a dark humour which was good.
Rory chuckled at this and Ian smiled back and he could feel a rapport building maybe this wouldn't be as hard as he thought it was. He was about to ask his next question when he saw a photo that caught his eye. It was of what he assumed was a younger Ian with brown hair, chiselled good looks and a goofy smile. Next to him was a very striking woman. She had a bouffant hair style and dark eyes and a big smile on her face. He didn't know where the picture was taken but what struck Rory was that the woman was wearing a gold necklace that was in the shape of a Tardis and in place of the Tardis light there was a small emerald. He'd seen two Tardises. One in the painting downstairs and another one in this old photo. A voice told him that he could have been really into police telephone boxes maybe Ian was a policeman. It might have nothing to do with the doctor but the more he tried to convince himself the less he believed.
Suddenly Ian got angry "You're here to examine me. Not look at my photos" he got up and grabbed the picture and started gazing at it when he sat down.
Rory turned to him and watched him as he stared at the picture stroking the woman with his weathered fingers and instead of carrying on with the check up, he asked "How do you know the doctor?"
There was a silence between them as that question filled the air. Rory was the first to speak. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked that." Of course he didn't know the doctor he was just a retired policeman that happened to like telephone boxes and there was nothing else to it.
Rory was about to continue with the check up when Ian spoke "He was Susan Foreman's grandfather, we were worried about her, she was so smart but her grades were so bad. We were worried about her and then" he stopped as he dragged all these memories to the surface. "Our lives changed."
"The doctor has a granddaughter, wait till I tell Amy" Rory said excitedly. He sat down amazed that he found someone else who travelled with the doctor. He'd wanted to talk about his experiences for so long but Amy saw them so differently to him and here was someone who he could confide with.
Ian looked perplexed at the young stranger who was beginning to remind him of his younger self, more and more, Ian smiled "How do you know the doctor?"
"He's my wife's imaginary friend" he said and then as he looked at Ian, they both began to laugh uproariously at the absurdness of it.
After a while they were swapping stories of their travels after a while it became a game of one up man ship as they each tried to outdo each other in their stories. Ian spoke of meeting Marco Polo at the roof of the world and Rory spoke of seeing Vampires in Venice. Ian retold the tale of the web planet where the whole world was run by ants and Rory told him how he stuffed Hitler in a broom cupboard.
"Seriously, you did what?" Ian asked incredulously.
"I stuffed Hitler in a broom cupboard" Rory said proudly. As they laughed and remembered all the fond times with the doctor, he felt strange when he felt he almost missed it, the danger, and the excitement of travelling with their doctor.
"It's strange isn't it" Ian remarked.
"What is?" Rory asked.
"How much you miss it travelling with the doctor, not knowing if tomorrow might be the day when the doctor's luck runs out and he'll find himself in so much trouble even he can't get out of it" Ian said with a hint of nostalgia and a hint of regret. "All I wanted was a normal life, I wanted to watch cricket with my mates, buy a house, raise a family and I did that but I missed the doctor a lot more than I thought I would."
"I suppose" Rory said scare about how accurately he could read his mind.
"I remember when Barbara and I first came back, how hard we found it to fit in. The thrill of not knowing where you'd be tomorrow replaced with the certainty of everyday life. I would have gone crazy if it wasn't for her. She was my rock, no matter how crazy things got. She stood beside me and with her at my side I felt I could do anything." Ian almost forgot Rory was still in the room.
"Do you miss her?" he said. Somehow Rory knew she was dead because as he looked at him. He saw someone who had lost half his world. It would be what he would look like when he lost Amy.
"Every day, I feel angry I saved her from the daleks, Aztecs and sometimes her own stubbornness but I had to watch her get eaten away and there was nothing I could do" with that he cried.
"I'm sorry Mr Chesterton" Rory said knowing full well how hollow his words were. He'd brought pain to a man who he had in the past 10 minutes gained a respect for. He frowned and decided that he'd probably want to be left alone so he grabbed his bag and went towards the door.
"Where are you going" he demanded gathering some of his irascibility from before.
"I thought, I'd better leave now, you're clearly upset."
"I promised Polly that I would let you give me a health check up and I don't break my promises." He said stubbornly.
"With that he got a stethoscope and started to listen to his heartbeat, it seemed to be in good health especially for a man his age." He then got a needle and decided to take some blood.
"Who did you travel with?" Ian asked. "When you were with the doctor." Rory tied a band around his arm and tried to find a vein.
"I was with my wife Amy and sometimes with my dau, sometimes with River Song" he said. It still pained him to think of River in a way he was proud of her but he hadn't been there for her. He hadn't been there when he needed her and he'd always resent the doctor for that. In fairness he had seen her grow up as Mels but it wasn't the same and every time, he thought of his daughter, he felt love but an overwhelming sense of regret."
"Were you married before you set of with the doctor?"Ian inquired.
Rory still thinking of his daughter said in a daze "No we weren't"
"The doctor must be an old romantic at heart" he chuckled.
"What do you mean" Rory said genuinely confused and taking the needle from Ian arm and putting the blood into a tube.
"Well" Ian smiled "He helped Barbara and I get together and Ben and Polly maybe he's trying to be a matchmaker as well as a troublemaker."
Rory got a blood pressure monitor form his bag and started setting it up. "Believe me, he's no matchmaker."Rory said with a touch of grumpiness
Ian looked confused "I detect a hint of jealousy in your voice, is he quite different now then"
"I wouldn't know" Rory said honestly, he'd been the ancient man with the look of a child. "How was he when you knew him?"
"He was an old man; Polly told us that she was there when the doctor changed form an old white haired man to a younger man with a Beatles hair cut." Ian told Rory and he got up to grab something form the shelves this irritated Rory because he hadn't completed the blood pressure test. He handed it to Rory.
It was an old leather bound book and as Rory opened the metal clasp, he realised it was a photo album but he didn't recognise the people inside it until he saw a photo of a painting of a cityscape but to the edge he saw the Tardis and a man standing next to it with a bowtie.
"How did you get this?" Rory asked amazed
"My wife was a history professor at Oxford and occasionally she'd look for the doctor or stumble across him every picture, she found went in this album." Ian explained. "We're not allowed to keep files, all of them go to UNIT but we're allowed to keep pictures."
"But these men are so different how can they all be the doctor?" Rory asked
"I don't know, he never explained it to me and my wife could never find the answer" Ian answered with a hint of sadness.
"The doctor is mysterious" Rory said knowingly. He continued with the blood pressure test
Ian nodded, "So were you jealous of the doctor?"
Rory paused "It's just sometimes I'd look at him and he'd be so brilliant and amazing and I thought how can I compete with that? How can I compete with someone who can give them the whole universe?"
Ian smiled "Because you can give Amy something that the doctor never can" he paused dramatically. "Your undivided attention"
Rory laughed and saw the truth in that, the doctor seemed to have so many things whizzing around in his head, that maybe there was something he could offer her that the doctor couldn't.
He finished the blood pressure check. "As far as I'm aware you are in great shape but I am going to book you in for a chest x ray to see about that cough and I'll bring the blood test results tomorrow."
"Maybe you could invite Amy round and I'll make sure Polly is here so you can talk with her and I could invite Victoria round" he said cheerfully "I can reminisce some more, I still have plenty of stories to tell and plenty of advice if you are willing to listen"
"I'd like that and maybe I can do the same for you" Rory replied.
A/N I don't think I've ever changed my mind during the course of one story so much before. God it was exhausting. I hope you like this I fully intend for this to be a one shot but I realised I have left it a bit open-ended so we'll see what happens. I wrote this before watching asylum and Pond life so we'll see what happens there. If you're wondering about Victoria in my personal canon I decided after fury from the deep, Victoria went to Oxford and met Barbara there and they've been friends for a while. I hope you enjoyed this cute little one shot and please review.