Rose was wandering through the TARDIS and comes upon a pile of photographs of The Doctor's past. I know it's been done to death but what the hell. Doesn't stop people writing Journey's End fic's. Set at some point during series 2 in between Fear Her and Army of Ghosts.
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. It belongs to the BBC. George the talking cabbage technically belongs to Stoned Lorikeet (although I gave her the idea so it should be 50-50. Or 60-40. At the very least I should be on 10%). I have never heard the song "Do you remember the First Time?" I have taken the title from the episode of Doctor Who Confidential for Blink where David Tennant talked about watching Doctor Who when he was little. Or "wee" to use his word. Oh how I love Scottish accents.
Rose was wandering through a corridor of the TARDIS, every now and then peering through a doorway to see what was inside. She had seen an Olympic sized swimming pool complete with 10-metre diving board, a room filled with keys, and a garden full of exotic plants including a talking cabbage, which told her that his name was George. She had slipped away when he had started talking about Wales and how rude Welsh rabbits were, and continued on her way.
She opened another door and found what looked remarkably like a study, for that's what it was. There was a large wooden desk in the middle of the room, with a comfortable looking leather chair behind it. There were bookcases filled with a variety of books, from old leather bound ones with alien writing down the spine, to some she recognised as the Harry Potter books. She smiled, remembering how excited the Doctor had gotten when he had dragged her to the launch of the seventh book. She had laughed at him when he had been upset over his favourite character's death, but when she had finally gotten around to reading it she had found herself shedding a tear or two.
She sat down on the chair and spun around on it a few times, slowing it by extending her legs, then pulling them in to make it go faster. After she had recovered from dizziness she looked at the desk. It was covered with various books and loose sheets of paper all covered with the circular symbols that she had seen on the computer screen on the TARDIS console. The Doctor had mentioned to her once that it was his native language; the symbols represented Gallifreyan letters and numbers. She looked at the various pieces of paper that were scattered around the desktop and wondered why the TARDIS didn't translate it for her. After all when they had gone to Kyoto in 1336 the TARDIS has translated Japanese writing for her. But for some reason it didn't want to translate Gallifreyan. At least not to her anyway. Trying to figure out the reasoning behind it just made her more confused, as everything else related to The Doctor tended to do. She decided to leave it at that and explore the three drawers.
The First drawer was full of marbles; the second was filled with old watches (some of them still ticking), and in the last she found numerous yellow envelopes. She pulled one out and opened it. It was full of photographs. She pulled them out and shuffled through them. They were pictures of different people. Some seemed to have been taken on distant alien planets, while others (she assumed at least) were taken on earth. Then she stopped on a picture of The Doctor. Not her current Doctor with the pinstripes, big hair and silly grin. It was her previous Doctor complete with leather jacket, big ears and a brooding look on his face. She remembered taking this photo herself. He was hunched over the console fiddling with some component of the TARDIS, which had been mucking up and not doing what it should. Rose had asked how he could tell, when it seemed that was all the TARDIS did. He had then told her to go find something to amuse herself with while he fixed whatever it was. She had taken the photo with an old Polaroid camera she had found in a cupboard in a dusty old bedroom. He had blinked at the flash and she had run off to explore some more of the TARDIS as the Doctor had suggested.
She shuffled a bit more and found a picture of The Doctor, Captain Jack and herself in Cardiff. They had been in a restaurant having lunch, and listening to Jack tell them another impossible story involving guns, aliens and Jack in the nude, all of them wetting themselves with laughter. Mickey had taken a picture with his new digital camera and given Rose a copy next time he saw her. She giggled to herself as she remembered Jack's story.
She put the envelope down and pulled out another one. It too was filled with an assortment of photos of random people. She flicked through them and found one of her Doctor. He was sitting on his long overcoat, leaning back on his elbows looking off into the distance. She remembered taking this one as well. It had been not long after he had regenerated and he had taken her to New Earth. They had mucked around on the grassy area where the TARDIS had landed, and she had taken a few photos of him with her phone. She found the others. In one his arm was covering his face, another he had moved as she took the photo resulting in a blurry Doctor shaped outline.
"That's not a very good one," a voice behind Rose said, making her jump and bang her knee on the desk. She swirled around and saw the Doctor leaning against a bookshelf watching what she had been doing.
"How long have you been there?" she asked looking back at the picture she had been looking at. "And what do you mean 'that's not a very good one'?"
"Well, look at it. It's all blurry"
"That's because you moved as I was taking it" she protested. "If you were capable of sitting still for 2 seconds…"
"Well" he said cutting her off "if you let me upgrade the camera then..."
"That's an idea, but you did that remember" she retorted, "you melted the battery and I had to get a new phone. Don't you remember the smell of burnt plastic that hung around for about a week?"
"Oh yeah." He said with a grin on his face "that was funny, the look on your face". He stopped laughing when he saw the evil look Rose was pointing in his direction. He shuddered slightly disturbed as to how closely she resembled Jackie when she was annoyed.
"So, who are all the people in these photos?" Rose asked, curiosity overtaking her annoyance.
A sad, almost brooding look came across his face.
"People I've known over the years. Friends, acquaintances, family, people who happened to have wandered into the TARDIS…" He mused trailing off, obviously lost in memories and seeing as he was 900 years old there were a lot of memories to get lost in.
"Family?" Rose asked drawing the Doctor out of his thoughts.
"Hmm? Yeah" he shuffled through the pile and pulled out some black and white pictures. "Here, that's Susan" he said pointing to a teenage girl who seemed to be in mid conversation with a woman in her thirties. "My granddaughter" he added at Rose's look of confusion. At that comment her look became even more confused.
"I know you said once you had kids, but I did know you were that old," She giggled
"I am not that old"
"Sure you're not. Which one's you?" she asked referring to the picture in her hand "You're not the old grey haired bloke are you?"
Upon seeing the look on his face she figured she had hit the nail on the head.
"Yes Rose, I'm the old grey haired bloke. Although relatively speaking I wasn't actually old, seeing as that was my first regeneration"
"Oh so this is the original Doctor?"
"I guess you could put it that way"
"What is it with Time Lords?" This question drew a blank from the Doctor so Rose decided to elaborate, "The older you get the younger you look."
The Doctor didn't answer, as he was shuffling though looking for more pictures. They sat in silence looking through the relics of the Doctors past; the only sound that could be heard was the distant humming noise of the TARDIS. Eventually Rose broke the silence.
"Doctor?"
He looked up; his glasses sliding down his nose. Rose couldn't resist laughing at him. He removed the glasses and leaned over in his chair to see where Rose was rolling on the ground laughing hysterically.
"You wanted something?" He asked once she had calmed down to a giggle.
"Oh yeah" she wiped a tear from her eye "I was gonna ask. Coz you never really talk about your past, and you never mention anyone else you've travelled with, how come you've got all these photos?"
The Doctor considers the question for a moment.
"Well, I don't talk about them because it hurts too much. I mean my Susan. I left her on earth in the 22nd century with a man called David. I said I'd come back but I never did. When I did eventually go back after the time war I couldn't find her. Tried crossing my timelines and everything." Years of suppressed grief showed on the Doctor's face as he remembered all he had lost.
"So why keep the photos?"
"Because sometimes, it nice to sit down and remember the happy times. Reminisce for a while and forget everything." The Doctor smiled at Rose.
"Come on, lets go somewhere. Weimar Germany? Mars 35th Century." The Doctor said, his usual manic swagger coming back. "Oh I know, The Cavern Club, Liverpool 1962" he cried with a grin and grabbed Roses hand and together ran to the console room.
"Why what's in Liverpool?" Rose asked a bit confused by his sudden change in mood
"Lets go find out. I've always wanted to meet John Lennon!"