Hey guys and girls! This is an AU story based on the Daughter of Time series. In the first story, the Doctor's Healer, Ali meets the 10th Doctor not long after he'd lost Alyssa to the Parallel World. In this version Alyssa will meet his previous incarnation, Nine. The story follows season 1 of New DW. There will be some parts that are the same or incredibly similar to the Doctor's Healer.
This is a rewrite to the original version. There will be more clarification as to who is speaking what; a bit more on their thought processes and more descriptions. Majority of this will be the same but there will also be some new content!
Alyssa walked slowly along the path through the cemetery towards her grandmother's grave carrying a small bouquet of Carnations. "Hey gran", she said when she stopped in front of a simple looking headstone with the name Elizabeth Sladen carved into it. "It's me. I'm back again" Alyssa set down the flowers and stayed kneeling so that she was level with the stone. She looked at it for a moment taking a minute to compose herself before she spoke. "I have something to tell you and you're going to be very disappointed when you hear it" she took a deep breath "I took several sleeping pills last night, way more than I should've done" Alyssa paused as if her grandmother had spoken "I know, I know. What was I thinking trying to kill myself? The thing is, I wasn't thinking. I wasn't thinking about the consequences of my actions, how it would affect my mother. It's just… it's not getting any easier. It feels like its getting worse and I just wanted to stop feeling this way. To go to sleep and never wake up" Alyssa wiped away a few tears that had started to run down her face. "But somehow I'm still here. I can never tell mum this. I'm really sorry gran for doing what I did, I just miss you so much", she reached out and touched the cool stone "I wish you were here".
Not wanting to go home just yet, Alyssa settled herself against a gravestone opposite. She was too deep in her thoughts that she didn't hear someone approach until they spoke. "You know losing a loved one is never easy", a Scottish male voice said.
"You have experience with losing loved ones?" she asked looking up at him. He was an older man wearing a suit with a long black coat that had a red lining.
"Unfortunately I have", the man replied sadly "Can I give you some advice?"
"I don't know you're not going to tell me to take it one day at a time are you?" Alyssa asked, really hoping that that wasn't the case.
"No", the man said sitting down next to her.
"Ok. Go ahead then", Alyssa said.
"The best way to deal with grief is to just keep going. Just keep living for the people we still have in our lives. Mothers, fathers, siblings, childhood friends. You need to keep going for them" Alyssa could tell that he'd made a good point. She didn't even consider her mother when she took all those sleeping pills. She was only concerned with making her own pain stop. It would've destroyed mum if she lost me too Alyssa thought I'm gonna have to try harder to cope for her. "We also need to live for those we have lost too for they're never truly gone. They still live within our memories and our hearts"
Alyssa looked at the stranger feeling rather comforted by his words. "Thank you for the advice", she said gratefully.
"You're welcome", the man said giving her a smile which Alyssa returned. She stayed seated as he stood up. He went to leave but stopped as if he'd remembered something. "Oh before I forget. If you meet a man wearing a leather jacket and has big ears like dumbo and he asks you if you want to travel with him, say yes", he added.
"Why?" Alyssa asked getting to her feet.
"Because it'll change your life, trust me", the man said giving her another smile before he walked off.
"Hey!" she called making him pause "what do you mean? Change my life?"
The man turned around, hands in pockets "spoilers", he said vaguely. He turned back and continued walking. Alyssa watched him go confused.
"What the heck does that mean?" she muttered. Alyssa didn't bother to chase after the stranger even though she was confused by his extremely vague answer "I guess I better keep an eye out for men with leather jackets and big ears" she glanced at her grandmother's headstone "see you later Gran", Alyssa said pressing a kiss to her hand and placing her hand on top of the headstone.
The Doctor watched Alyssa walk away from her grandmother's headstone and towards the path that lead out of the cemetery feeling both sad and happy at the same time. He was saddened by the fact that he couldn't do anything more to comfort her as to that particular version, he was a kind stranger who happened to have some good advice on dealing with grief. The reason he was slightly happy was that he knew that it wasn't long before she met his ninth self and the adventures would begin. And what adventures they were. He glanced down at his left hand at his wedding ring. A soft smile crept onto his face as he remembered his wedding. In all the years he'd been alive, and that was a lot, marrying Alyssa was one of best the days of his lives. In fact he had many 'best' days since meeting Alyssa way back in his ninth body and he was looking forward to having many more with her.
"Doctor?" a voice said quietly behind him. The Doctor turned to see another version of Alyssa standing there. Going by her clothing, she had just been to Pompeii which meant she'd met Caecilius. She looked at him for a moment, the expression on her face telling the Time Lord that she was trying to work out whether he was, to her, a future Doctor. Her green eyes widened signalling that she now knew for sure. "It is you", she breathed "I had a feeling when I saw Caecilius but I wasn't sure until…"
"Until you saw me again" Alyssa nodded. She took several steps forward, raised her hand and placed it gently on his cheek. The Doctor closed his eyes, leaning into her touch like he'd done so many times before. "I must look like an old man in your eyes", he said quietly, the words very similar to what she said to him on the Titanic after he'd told her how old he was.
"You look like the Doctor to me" the Doctor opened his eyes to see that she was giving him a very familiar look. It was the same one he'd given her many times through his tenth and eleventh selves. It was love. He shouldn't have been surprised by this younger Alyssa's answer as she'd never looked at him any differently after the Master had aged him on the Valiant. And he also knew that she won't look at him any differently on Christmas either.
Alyssa removed her hand from his cheek. "I better go", she said "Don't want your younger self worrying".
"That would be a good idea", the Doctor agreed knowing full well how his tenth self could be when it came to her safety. "See you later, my brilliant Ali", he said using her usual saying when it came to farewells.
"See you later, Spaceman", Alyssa said pressing a light kiss to his cheek. She turned and quickly headed off. Now time to get back to my own Alyssa the Time Lord thought strolling back the way he'd come.