Author's Note: This story was originally written in 2012, and published on the whofic website under my alias there, anthem. It came about after watching a documentary on sea turtles in biology class. They mentioned that turtles just sort of wander, they have no real permanent home, and no intention of settling down. I was reminded of the Doctor, and this fic came out of it. As always, ratings and reviews are greatly appreciated.

Amy Pond had been travelling with the Doctor for longer than she knew. She had her educated guesses about how long it had been, but, as he kept reminding her, there was no real concept of time in the vortex, and so she was left with only theory.

She liked to think she knew him well. He certainly knew her well, though maybe that had something to do with the "superior time lord senses" he was always bragging about.

She knew his favorite color was TARDIS blue, he was from Gallifrey and he had two hearts. She also knew he was 908 years old, didn't quite know who River Song was, and had had companions before her. She knew he was the last of his kind, and that he loved jammie dodgers almost as much as she loved Rory. He was obsessed with bow ties, and now fezzes too, and used to wear a long coat that he claimed Janice Joplin had given him, though she had yet to find any proof of that.

When she thought about it all, she realized that those things were just the most important. She really didn't know much about him. Did he have children? A wife? Was he really the last of his kind?

Now, as she sat in his chair by the console, and he fixed the underside of the TARDIS console amid a flurry of sparks, she figured the best way to find out was to ask him.

"Doctor?"

"Hmm?"

His voice was muffled from under the console, and she could picture his hair all fluffed up and out of place, those silly goggles perched over his eyes as he worked.

"You're from Gallifrey, right?" she asked, and then heard him yelp as another burst of sparks erupted from the machine.

"Yep," he replied, using his feet to push himself a little further under the console. "Why?"

"What's it like? On Gallifrey, I mean."

"Was," he corrected. "What was it like. Can you hand me that fibroginator? No, no, not that, the blue one, with the curly thing on top. Thank you." He disappeared back under the console.

"It was beautiful," he told her, after a moment of silence. "You'd have liked it there. The sky is orange, not blue, and we rarely ever had clouds. The rain would just... materialize. We had two suns, though, so it rarely rained."

Amy smiled, settling back into the chair. The way the Doctor told stories made her skin tingle, and when she closed her eyes, she could always picture herself where ever he was describing.

"We had loads of mountains, too, with red grass, and snow. The citadel was full of skyscrapers, so big it seemed like they could touch the edge of the atmosphere until you got up to the top floor and realized that there was still so far to go. The whole city was incased in a glass dome, and at night... Oh, Amy, at night, when the city came alive... It was like looking at a jar of brilliant fireflies."

He slid out from under the console, his hair a mess, and a smudge of grease on his right cheek.

"Then the time war happened." He shrugged, as if it didn't matter, and swapped the tool in his hand for another before sliding back under. Amy knew the shrug was his way of guarding himself from the truth, and just nodded in agreement.

"What did you look like before this?" She asked, and heard him sit up sharply in surprise, then say something in another language that sounded like a curse.

"Why on earth would you want to know!?"

She laughed.

"I'm just curious. Before this, before..." she gestured to him with a hand. "Bow ties, tweed, and floppy hair."

He straightened his bow tie indignantly, then leaned back against the console.

"I was tall. Brown hair... It's always brown, now that I think about it. Except for the two times it was white, and that one time it was blonde... Anyhow. My hair was incredible then, too. All spiky and the likes. I was still skinny, mind you. Tended to make funny facial expressions, too."

He trailed off, seemingly in thought, and Amy waited, knowing he'd snap back soon enough.

"I quite liked that regeneration," he mused, quietly, and Amy smiled.

"I quite like this one," she told him, and he made a murr of happiness.

"Well thank you." He smiled, and she smiled back.

"Why all the sudden interest in me, Amelia?" he questioned, as he slid back under the console yet again, and Amy shrugged even though he couldn't see it.

"I just realized I don't know much about you, but you know loads about me."

He smiled, even though she couldn't see it.

"Well... You know loads about me. The only two people who know more about me than you are myself and Rose."

Amy smiled to herself. The Doctor was a teacher, to her. A teacher of the universe, and people, and planets and races. In his own way, he was a wanderer. He'd never settle down, most likely, and she doubted he'd ever even consider it. That was all right, though, because Amy Pond liked her Doctor inside his TARDIS. It seemed to fit him better than the rest of the world did, anyhow.