When he returned to Earth, he was a broken man. He'd just regenerated recently, and he showed nor felt any pleasure in his new look. Not that it was the problem, not at all.
He was a broken man who had seen too much suffering, known too much loss. He wanted it to stop. He wasn't even sure how many regenerations he had left. But if this was his last chance to live, he knew he didn't want to spend it as he had every time before now. It hurt, too much. River was gone: she'd left, on her own, one day. She had never returned. (He knew what had happened, oh how he wished he didn't.) Everyone was gone - either dead, or in another universe, or unreachable, or had forgotten him, or any number of other reasons.
The Doctor was tired. Tired of it all. So he parked the TARDIS in an inconspicuous spot in London, England, year 2012, and started walking.
"The loneliest people can be the kindest. The saddest people sometimes smile the brightest. The most damaged people are filled with wisdom. All because they do not wish the pain they've endured on another soul" ~unknown
The Doctor had a name. He hadn't used it in such a long time, so long that he'd almost forgotten it. But he hadn't, not quite. Now that he was going to live amoung humans 'as' a human for all intents and purposes, he had to go by a regular name.
Might as well use his own, rather than try and go by "john smith". He had a feeling that that name, "john smith", was too common by now.
The Doctor's name was Connor Temple.
The Doctor- Connor - may have been a broken man, but he had no intention of letting anyone else know that. Perhaps it was pride, but he didn't think so. He wasn't sure he had any real pride left. Connor stared at his reflection in the glass of the shop window, bringing up a hand to push the long, dark hair out of his face. He needed new clothes, needed to not stand out quite so badly. Apparently bowties and logn jackets didn't really suit his new form. Figured, since he looked like a kid, someone only about 20 or so in human years.
He could remember his first form, dimly. It seemed that the older he became, the younger he looked. Despite that, Connor couldn't really find anything bad to say about how he looked now, beyond the need for better clothes.
Someone was looking at him like he was crazy, and Connor moved away from the window, flashing a bright smile at the other man, before entering the building. He still had Galifreyan tech with him: he wasn't willing to start completely from scratch.
Twenty minutes later, Connor left the store, wearing a grey pinstriped trilby, pale blue dress shirt, grey argyle pullover waistcoat, a pair of black slacks, and a pair of dark boots. It was a little chilly out, so he went looking for a new jacket as well.
He'd been 'human' for a month now, and was getting bored of being alone. It was relaxing, nto tryign ot worry about the problems of billions of individuals. Not that he wouldn't help someone if they were in trouble, but it felt like a weight of responsibility had lifted from his shoulders.
A curl of guilt stirred in his gut, and he pushed it away. He deserved a little bit of time to himself, especially if this was his last lease on life.
Connor was bored, and lonely. The landloard of the flat he was staying at had also warned him that, sadly, he would not be able to stay there any more after the lease was up. He had bought a laptop, and was working at a small cafe and tea shop. It wasn't what he wanted to do.
Since he looked like a 20 year old, Connor figured that, if he wanted to, he could see what human university was like. He was a genius, but he didn't know everything, and there was something that he was interested in.
Dinosaurs.
After the whole incident where he'd met Tricey, Connor's interest in the creatures was piqued. Anyone else would have questioned his sanity in considering going to uni when he didn't have to, but The Doctor enjoyed learning. You should always want to learn something new, otherwise the world would be a very, very boring place indeed. Not so much the universe, to be honest, but that was besides the point.
A bit of hacking done on his laptop and some copious use of Galifreyan tech to assist, and Connor was unofficially officially in his second year studying Paleontology at CMU, a nearby university.
He hadn't expected that decision to change his life all over again.
TBC…
AN: Please note that I've watched a grand total of maybe 5 episodes of Doctor Who, and don't know a whole lot about it. Most of what I've figured out is based on Tumblr-stuff and those 5 or so episodes. ^^" But I do know Primeval! And for whatever crazy reason, my muse wants me to write Primewho (again) so... here y'go. :3 Will be several chapters.
This started because my mind considered the scenes in S3 from the POV of Connor, and then of a Connor who was actually The Doctor, and well…. it snowballed. ^^" Hope you enjoy!