Title: Fish Fingers and Custard
Pairing: Doctor/TARDIS
Words: 635
Spoilers: Let's Kill Hitler and the companions' fates as of Doomsday (Rose), Last of the Time Lords (Martha), and Journey's End (Donna). Makes several references to The Doctor's Wife without spoiling.
Summary: Because suddenly the impossible happens, and she gives Amelia Pond a voice.
A/N: Safe for fans of all pairings/characters. I think it leaves the Doctor's feelings about each open for you to interpret as you wish.
The Doctor is dying. Well, no. Of course he's not dying. Not yet…or maybe he already has? She was never any good with tenses, but she does know that he's not going to die here.
Still, she feels him struggling on her floors, trying to fight the pain, and she knows that even if he won't die, he is dying. (Yes. She thinks she got that right.) And he's her Doctor, her thief, her beautiful idiot. So she aches for him.
All her controls are on alert, waiting for his command, for some way to help.
A few seconds (hours?) later, he speaks.
"Shutting down. I need an interface. Voice interface, come on. Emergency."
She quickly activates the interface, glad to offer him her assistance.
"Oh no, no, no, no! Give me someone I like!"
Her heart breaks for a moment, but there's no time to dwell on it. She thinks over her options. Rose, she decides. His Rose. The girl who had looked straight into her heart, had risked her life to save the man she loved. She loves Rose.
"Thanks! Give me guilt!"
Rose. His Rose. The girl who had been lost to another world. She remembered burning up a sun just so he could say goodbye. Mourning along with him in the weeks that followed. She had loved Rose.
She considers the choices again before selecting Martha. Brave Martha. The girl who had walked the Earth, saved all of humanity when the Doctor couldn't. She loves Martha.
"Also guilt!"
Martha. Brave Martha. The girl who had walked away, been strong enough to let go. She remembered listening to Martha cry sometimes, how the Doctor always seemed to overlook her somehow. She had loved Martha.
She searches her memories once more before giving him Donna. Brilliant Donna. The woman who had been there to stop him. She was his best mate...wait, no, not mate. She hadn't liked that word, had she? She loves Donna.
"More guilt!"
Donna. Brilliant Donna. The woman who had forgotten everything, who was back on Earth somewhere, safe but lost. She didn't remember being his mate. She wondered if Donna still minded the word. She had loved Donna.
"Come on! There must be someone left in the universe I haven't screwed up yet!"
She wishes (will wish?) that she had arms to hold him. Instead, she studies him for a moment before deciding.
Little Amelia Pond. The girl who hadn't waited yet.
She was just what he needed.
But it wasn't working. After all, she wasn't really Amelia Pond – just a voice interface.
She listens to him beg for her, trying to hide his sadness and failing.
"Need something for the pain now. Come on, Amelia. It's me."
He needs more than a hologram, and she has nothing to offer him. Nothing to give to the man she loves. (She doesn't need tenses for that one – she has always loved him and always will.)
"Amelia. Listen to me. I can be brave for you. But you have got to tell me how."
He couldn't regenerate. He would be dead in thirty-two minutes. And the only thing he needed was Amelia Pond. Why wasn't she built that way?
"Amelia…Amelia, I…"
Life is funny sometimes, she thinks. Love is funny. Because suddenly the impossible happens, and she gives Amelia Pond a voice.
"Fish fingers and custard," she says, and it feels strange. She wonders how humans manage that every day.
And suddenly, he's laughing and pushing himself up, repeating it over and over.
He grabs a lever on her console and she feels a jolt of happiness at his touch, the subtle thank you in the movement of his hands.
They fly away together, a mad man and his box. And she takes her thief exactly where he needs to go.