Title: Hide and Seek
Rating: K
Disclaimer: BBC owns the Doc, I own Amelia...ha ha! Take that!
Summary: One day for him was a lifetime for her and she didn't know whether that made her envious of the Doctor or pity him.
His smile was brighter than the sun and his eyes the saddest, loneliest, two orbs that ever existed on this earth. She suspected that the weight of the universe lay on those shoulders and sometimes she wondered how he managed to get up, breathe and live one more day.
Isn't he weighed down by the sheer pain of living nine hundred years? Watching everyone he loves die off and having to still carry on, carry that torch forward until the next person comes along, fills him momentarily until they to cease to exist.
He was ginger now, something he had always wanted, so he had told her.
She was ginger too; perhaps that's why he had asked her to come along. Or perhaps it was the fact that she had no home or family, just a wonderer on the streets trying to find her own way in this life…yeah, that could be why.
Amelia didn't know much about what had been before her and frankly she wasn't in any hurry to find out. If he had expected her to ask, she never would, that was one thing she had learned on the streets – don't ask any questions, just accept your good fortune and try to make the most of it because sooner or later it will come to an end.
She figured that was also the Doctor's philosophy on life, a bit different around the edges, but basically the same. They were nomads and never stopped moving, constantly shifting and evolving. But he, she could never compare to him, the horrors he must of have seen, the happiness he must of have experienced…she could never even fathom what it was like to be in his shoes. One day for him was a lifetime for her and she didn't know whether that made her envious of the Doctor or pity him.
Walking down the long corridors of the TARDIS she could see that there were a few rooms that were completely sealed off. Amelia wasn't ignorant, not at all. She knew and understood that there had been others before her…how could there not be? Nine hundred years she repeated to herself, plenty must of have come and gone.
She would never ask, but she could speculate. Time was of the infinite with the Doctor and a girl had to keep herself busy somehow. So she presumed and watched, not hurting anyone or digging up any old memories. Her imagination would suit her just find, besides she had always been a perceptive little thing.
Yes, there had been others before her; perhaps each room that had been sealed off belonged to them. Smart man the Doctor was, you can't forget the past but you can sure as hell play hide and seek with it. Smart, smart, foolish…alien he was.
Nearing the end of the extremely long corridor she turned and found herself facing an entirely new one…so she would keep on moving, what else was there to do? It seemed as if every corner of this ship had a tale to tell. Closing her eyes she tried to focus on it but received nothing in return, perhaps she was still to new to this. Soon enough the ship would sing to her just like she did to the Doctor. Slowly she was starting to hear the faint melody but the words may no sense, but that would change…soon with time, she had plenty of it with him by her side.
Lift a stone and you will find me.
Stopping at a sealed door she placed her palm on it and closed her eyes. Concentration that was the trick and she did it hard enough perhaps something could leak on through. But there was nothing just a chill that lingered on her fingertips.
She could almost hear a slight whisper in her mind.
Soon child, soon.
A bit overwhelmed she ran back to the console room only to find the Doctor sitting on his battered chair by the controls. His head was down and she could tell that he was asleep. Coming to his side she sat down next to him and pulled a small novel from the pocket of her jacket. It was always like this, they didn't do much, just wonder through space, occasionally stopping on a planet and pocking about for a while.
Her eleven years of life could in no way to compare to the lifetimes he had seen, but she figured that it didn't matter. He had asked her to come along and be his companion and she did it with immense pleasure.
Besides, she couldn't deny a dying man his last wish.
Soon he would leave that body and there was nothing more to it. What came next, even he didn't know, didn't think that he would ever have to contemplate it, that much he had shared with her once.
Death wasn't a new thing for her; she had been surrounded by it since birth. Perhaps in time she would learn about the companions that came before her, all childs of the light she suspected, but not her. She was bore from pain and desperation, a child of the night and of the dark she was.
So she asked no questions and sought no truths. Instead she constructed such intricate labyrinths in her mind; the past was a sea to her and no matter how much time she spent with him she would never be able to reach the bottom. While he played hide and seek she would play detective.
FIN