Allons-y Ever After
"So." He stares.
"Yeah." She stares back, with a nervous smile. She can hear her mother on the phone, somewhere nearby. This is all so strange. Too much has happened too quickly. Minutes ago she'd been cheering in a crowd, and now it is so quiet. She's alone with him. With the Doctor! The Doctor?
It's him, finally, but not?
She knew he'd be different. He could have experienced whole lifetimes many times over while they'd been apart. She'd tried to prepare herself for that. She'd even, briefly, tried to make herself think about the possibility that he might not want her there.
She hadn't expected this, though.
He lifts his eyes from her, looking past her to where the TARDIS stood. She turns her head, following his gaze.
"No TARDIS," he says. His voice is sad. His forehead lowers a bit
"No…TARDIS. Right."
He keeps staring at the empty space.
"Sonic screwdriver?" she asks. She's not sure why.
His eyebrows shoot back up. He reaches into his pocket. "No…no sonic screwdriver. Well, now, that's going to be an awkward habit to break, I've been reaching into my pocket for at least, how many centuries is it, now? Not to mention how handy it is to have sonic technology when you need to…" He glances back up. She is staring again, but her lips are quirked a bit. "What?"
"Just…just you, then." It isn't a question.
His face goes still. "Just me. Yeah."
It hangs between them. No adventures in time and space. No alien planets or madcap adventures or impossible villains. No TARDIS. No sonic screwdriver. No immortality. No new faces. Just him.
He swallows. "Is…um…is that all right?"
She thinks for just a moment of the one who went away. The full Time Lord, with his two hearts and his regenerations and his sadness and how she will always wonder, just a little.
And then she smiles. "Oh, it's brilliant," she says. "It's fantastic."