DISCLAIMER: I don't own Doctor Who... but I do own a fez. It's very cool.
A young girl sat on a bench just outside the Powell Estate. She pushed her long blonde hair out of her face as she scowled over her Maths homework. Even though she'd been at it for hours, she seemed no closer to figuring out the answers. She tried to work it out on her own, she really did. She had a stubborn streak a mile wide and never wanted to give up… but this. She couldn't remember half of what the teacher said, and her textbook might has well have been written in an alien language.
"Forget this…" she muttered as she tossed her pencil over her shoulder.
"Oi!" Shouted a voice behind her. Startled, she turned round to watch him scoop an odd hat off the ground and plop it firmly atop his head, not bothering to sweep his long dark fringe out of the way first. Then in one fluid movement he snatched her discarded pencil and held it out to her.
"This yours?" He asked with a frown. The young girl nodded her head bashfully.
"Sorry…" she said in a small voice as she took her pencil back.
"It's all right," the man shrugged "people have found worse ways to try and rid me of this… or any hat come to think of it. What do people have against me in a hat?" The girl's bashfulness seemed to fade as she began to giggle at his remarks. Then she got a bit bold.
"No offence, but it is a stupid hat."
"Seriously!" The odd man huffed, "It's called a fez! It's cool!"
"No it ain't!" He stared at her for a long moment, his green eyes narrowed into an almost scowl. Then he sighed as a smile swept across his face inexplicably changing his mind about his silly hat.
"Okay fine, for you…" he seemed to trail off, as if afraid of saying too much. He removed the hat and shoved it into the pocket of his tweed jacket (where it oddly seemed to fit without too much hassle, like there was more room inside the pocket than it seemed).
"Can you at least explain why you're hurling pencils at people?" He asked in a much softer voice.
"I didn't mean to, honest. I just…" She trailed off this time, seemingly unsure if she should burden this complete stranger with her problems.
"You just…?" He prodded while rubbing his palms together. She stared at him for a long moment. She thought he was a strange bloke, but there was something about him. He looked like he was around his mid-twenties, but she just got the feeling that he was much older than he was letting on. A sort of wisdom behind those green eyes. A genuine kindness behind that smile.
"It's just this stupid Maths homework," she blurted out at last. "It's rubbish! I hate it!"
"Ooh, Maths! I love Maths! Perhaps I could help?" Before she could answer he had already leapt over the back of the bench, sat himself next to her and began pouring over her textbook.
"I can tell you the problem right now, mate! This book's all wrong!"
"That's 'cause you're holding it upside down." The girl giggled again. He stopped turning pages as a serious expression crossed his face. He slammed the book shut and turned it the right way round.
"I knew that… just wanted to see if you were paying attention. Now what specifically are you having trouble with?" She took the textbook off his hands and turned to the chapter about algebra. He glanced at the pages before launching into what seemed like a prepared speech about all the equations. There were a few times where he lost her completely, especially during that strange tangent about something called "happy primes", but she got the distinct feeling that he was used to having to break down difficult to explain subjects into easy to understand concepts.
A couple hours passed, and the girl's homework was finally completed. She felt like she had learned more from this man than an entire year of school.
"Thank you so much Mister… um.. you know, I don't think you told me your name." He smiled at her.
"Well you see –"he started but was cut off by a woman shouting. Her voice seeming to send shivers down his spine.
"Rose?! Rose Tyler! Where the 'ell are you?"
"That's my mum." The girl smiled at him. "I better go. See you later!" She said as she quickly gathered her things and ran off towards her mum.
The Doctor smiled to himself as he watched Rose run off. He wondered how much of this she would remember. He was honestly just passing by with no intentions of interacting with anyone. But then he found her lost and confused. The way she looked at him with those brown eyes, he couldn't stand to see them looking so sad.
"Yeah, see you later." He whispered, knowing full well he couldn't anymore. Even with a time machine, he knew it would be impossible. He already entered her timestream too early on a whim, and now he worried if she would ever remember that skinny drunk bloke who didn't even know what year it was… well he did, he just couldn't get enough of hearing her voice. The walls of the universe were officially closed, the past was the only place he could see her, but not anymore. He couldn't risk altering her past any more than he already had. His eyes involuntarily welled up. He still loved her. River had helped him move on, but he would always have a spot in his hearts for his girl of pink and yellow. He buried his face in his hands to try and stop the barrage of tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. He had to keep telling himself that she was now somewhere safe and happy. Happy with him.
The sound of approaching footsteps jarred him out of his state of self-pity. He looked up to see Rose rushing back toward him
"Forgot to give you this. Just my way of saying 'thanks'." She held out a small bag of sweets as she beamed at him with that smile that always made him melt inside, but then that smile faded into a look of concern. "You all right?"
"Yes, quite." He smiled softly as he accepted her gift. "It's just you remind me of a friend I had a long time ago. Now go on, you can't keep your mum waiting." He waved her off. Rose flashed one last smile at him before darting away. He watched her disappear into the Estate.
"Goodbye, Rose Tyler."