So the idea for this one-shot came to me as I was about to fall asleep, just after I finishing the Season 4 Finale of Doctor Who, Journey's End. It is an epilogue of sorts, summing up the feelings the Doctor has or each of his great companions, and how it is up to him to carry on with the burden of being the savior of the universe.
Carry On.
So there it is then, just as always.
The Doctor, alone in his Tardis. Recalling the actions and emotions of events only a few hours previous.
And this was the most bittersweet ending to a journey's end yet.
He had left or lost so many of his companions over time, whether by choice or by chance, but in this last great finale his companions had been the most brilliant yet.
First there was Martha. Oh Martha Jones. She had been the one who always put her personal feelings aside for the work of the greater good. Just like him. She had an endless amount of ambition, and had never been afraid to do her duty. Yet Martha's love for the Doctor was eventually what had driven them apart. Sad as it was, the Doctor knew that she had somebody new to love now, a real someone whom she could care for and who would return feelings the he knew he never could. And she had Jack and Mickey now, the best pair of men she could have ever asked for. The Doctor smirked at this as he paced about the controls. Crazy Captain Jack, with his omnisexualy flirtatious habits and rebellious nature. Yes Jack had been the one who had always found a way to make a light in the dark, an had been the bravest fighter of them all, choosing to die again and again just so he could keep everyone safe. He was even destined to become the great and wise Face of Bo, dodgy as it was.
The Doctor fingered the Tardis's control panel. Tears still lay on his face as he continued down the mental list of his wonderful 'family.'
There was Mickey, who would always be there whenever somebody needed a willing hand or a passionate fighter. He would be good with Jack and Martha in whatever new form of Torchwood or U.N.I.T that came to be. They would teach him may skills he had yet to learn from his brief travels with the Doctor. Mickey had been through some of the worst with him, yet he had never held a grudge or blamed all the misfortune on the Doctor. No, he had just accepted his fate and sucked up his pride and moved on. A true soldier.
Next was Sarah Jane Smith. The Doctor smiled for a brief second as the Tardis rebooted as he remembered all the brilliant times they had had together. Oh Sarah Jane would be just fine. This wasn't the first time they had had to say goodbye after some near disaster. No, Sarah Jane had her clever son, who would grow up with her stories of their travels together. She had her wonderful and oh so cleverly named computer, Mr. Smith. And she had K9, their faithful mechanical dog. Yes, Sarah Jane would be just fine.
The Doctor twisted and turned various knobs and switches with a robotic reflex, barely thinking of where or when he was about to go. No the Doctor had come to his lasted companion. One of the best ever.
Donna Noble. The Doctor-Donna. The preferred being of an insane Dalek. The first ever Human/Time Lord hybrid who had saved them all from the Creator and the Daleks, but would never ever remember even a second of it. Lest she wanted to die a painful death. Donna would forever be stuck in simple suburban London, chatting away about trivial gossip and her latest job. But the Doctor-Donna song would be sung forever throughout the universe. Just had the Ood had predicted. She would be a nameles hero, simply a story until the end of time. She would become a song like one from a childhood. A song you always hear but can never exactly place, yet will still never forget.
Donna had been like no other companion the Doctor had known. She had the the spit fiery stubborn sister that the Doctor had never had, and will never have again.
Good old Donna Noble.
Lastly, the Doctor came to his most loyal. Rose. Beautiful, brilliant, and brave Rose Tyler. The first to come to the Doctor while he had been in his state of internal rage and self-loathing. She had healed healed him, and in turn he had shown her the world. They had gone through so much together. Everything from a regeneration to mind possession to been the eye of the very Tardis itself.
And being split apart by the very fabric of the universe itself.
But Rose was back in her parallel with her family, and his hybrid duplicate. Another lost man who she could heal with her lively laugh and warm nature. She had always brought out the best in the Doctor, and had never once doubted his integrity or his trust. On, Rose would come to love the duplicate-doctor-time lord-human as she had loved this Doctor. And this doctor had loved her too, yet had never truly spoken the feelings aloud. It was just a feeling too powerful that words would never suffice.
But the duplicate had his mind. So in a way, she had gotten her lover.
Good old Rose Tyler. The only companion in the universe to travel alone across all the dimensions, just to see him again.
She had been fantastic.
The Doctor wiped away a fresh batch of tear, beginning to prepare for travel. He was at the end of his list. All that remains now is him. As usual.
Just him. Alone. In his Tardis. A cycle of loss and lonesome that had yet to be broken. Forever fighting trapped shame and rage within his heart over the events of The Last Great Time War oh so very long ago.
He knew that one day those feelings would be the end of him. That one day he would simply no longer have the will to fix what was broken and save what is helpless, all in the name of redemption. But hopefully that day was a time a long way off. It just had to be.
For the universe still needs the Doctor, he thought as the Tardis began it's whirring and shaking. The universe would always need the the Last of the Time Lords to save the day. And for him to do it all without so much as a thank you.
Yes, it was time again for the doctor to start a new journey. Maybe regenerate at some point and find a new companion. Either one. Maybe even both.
For the Doctor knew he could never be alone forever, as much as he tried. He accepted this fate as he finally sat in the Tardis chair, his comically conversed feet limply dangling in the air. The Doctor needed his spit fire sisters and devoted partners. His loyal assistants and creative aids. These were the pieces of his life that kept him going; kept him fighting for justice. And maybe, just maybe, the day would come when the Doctor could eventually find a love that lasts. Someone with whom he could share his most painful secrets. Someone who he could be with long enough to experience just a small taste of a normal life.
But for now he was alone in time and space. Just him and his beloved Tardis traveling around, waiting for the next adventure to begin. For the Doctor would carry on with his work.
And as the Tardis landed, arrivign in a location still yet to be explored, the Doctor came to his final conclusions.
He is the Doctor.
And the Doctor must carry on.
He is the very last of the great Time Lords.
And Time Lord's must carry on.
For he chooses to be the savior of the universe,
and a savior must carry on.
For he chooses to be British.
And he chuckled, grabbing the handle of the Tardis door, his hearts filling with that buzz of adrenaline that came with starting a new and unknown adventure, replaying in his mind on of his best days with Donna.
The 1920's, where he had said.
"And what do the British do, Donna?
They carry on."