The engine slows and quiets. He looks at her. It seems like it'd been forever since he'd seen her last.
"What date is it?" she smiles.
He grabs his jacket and flings it over his shoulder, "Let's go look." He offers her his hand.
She takes it and hops up alongside him.
The door opens and they step out into a grassy field. Stones and engravings are lined up in rows and columns up and down. It seems to go on forever. A little ways off from them there's a small gathering of people. They're all in black.
The Doctor breaks away from his newest companion, Amber, someone he'd known for a very long time.
"Excuse me, sir," he waves down a grounds-keeper. "Could you tell me what today's date is?"
The stocky man with a white beard and no hair looks surprised. "It's Christmas."
"Yes, of course it is. Pardon me, though, what's the year?"
The man shakes his head and leans back down to the flowers he's pruning. "What have you been doing all night? It's two thousand fourteen."
"Thank you." He turns and walks back to Amber. He notices her staring and follows her gaze. He sees someone that looks familiar, but he can't say where; which is weird because he never forgets a face. "Who is that?"
She takes a breath to steady herself. "It's Charlie."
Of course, that's where The Doctor knows him from. He's Amber's son. However, from their appearances, they appear to be more like siblings than mother and son. It's all very complicated.
"You stay here. I'll be right back," he pats her on the shoulder and slides his jacket over his shoulders. He puts his hands in the pockets of his trousers.
He walks towards the group. Readying himself for what could come next. He stands next to Charlie for a few heartbeats. He waits until the priest takes a pause before asking quietly, "Who is it?"
Charlie looks at The Doctor in surprise. "It's my mum."
A pain goes through The Doctor's hearts. "When did she pass?"
He puts his head down, "A few days ago." The Doctor sees a few tears fall onto Charlie's suit jacket.
"I'm very sorry."
"Thanks." Charlie's voice cracks.
He waits a few more seconds before stepping away and returning to Amber. He takes her hand and turns her back towards his TARDIS.
"Doctor, who was it?"
They step back into the police box and he closes the door behind them. "One of his friend's parents. He was there for support."
"Oh, right. So, uh, why aren't we staying, then?" Amber leans against the railings, running her hands along the metal.
"Nothing interesting happens in two thousand fourteen." He stands by the controls and puts in a random course from memory.
She walks up the platform and stands behind him. "Well, alright."
He turns and faces her, his face nearly cut in half by his smile. "Come here, I want to show you something." He takes her hand again and they run towards the door of the TARDIS.
He opens it and they stare into the heart of a new galaxy. The reds and yellows, purples, blues and greens mix to create colours that Amber had never seen before.
"This." Amber recognizes that tone in her Doctor. He's gone, lost into a world that no one else on earth could ever know. "This is the beginning of your galaxy. The Milky Way galaxy. The start of the human race." He points to a large piece of rock and ice. "That is what will become the Earth. And the moon. And part of Venus."
"What's that?" Amber points to a comparatively small star. It's a white dwarf.
"That's the sun."
Amber leans against the side of the TARDIS's doorframe. "It looks so small."
"Well, compared to other stars it is small. Very small. Microscopically small."
There's a cloud of dust circling the new galactic mess. "What about the dust?"
"That's you. And the whole of human kind. And every animal and insect and bacterium on Earth or otherwise."
"We're space dust?"
The Doctor laughs, "Yes. Before you're born and after you die, you're all space dust. Remember that, yeah?" He looks at Amber. You'd think after three hundred years, he'd have gotten used to her beauty. But he hadn't. Every time he saw her it was like the first time. "When someone dies, they become a part of the universe. Whether dust in your galaxy or in another, you're part of it. Forever."
"I promise."
"Good. Now then," he closes the door and turns to her. "Where to next?"