If ever a song makes you appreciate being Scottish, it's this one. I am keeping the lyrics in their Scottish form; please email me for a translation if needed.

Doctor Who belongs to the BBC, and the Lyrics to Loch Lomond belong to the Corries. I am making no money from this.

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The UNIT force, the Doctor, Sarah Jane, Harry, the Brigadier and several of the locals of the small Scottish village had assembled in the inn for a celebration, despite the landlord's demise, and were sitting on the chairs, tables, floor, and in Harry and Sarah's case, the end of the bar, out of the way. It wasn't too long before one of the villagers suggested a few songs.

"Yeah, but we'll need somebody to play the bagpipes, and it was only Angus that did that," Benton volunteered.

At this point, the Brigadier went bright red, but nobody noticed this. Nobody except a certain extremely perceptive journalist, however.

"Are you offering to play for us, Brigadier?" Sarah said impishly. The Brigadier groaned. It was another time when he wondered whether it had been a good idea to let Sarah join forces with the Doctor. He spotted her sitting between the wall and Harry, grinning like a mischievous child, and glared at her, as just about everybody in the room was shouting for him to play. In truth, he was actually very good at it. Still, he was never going to hear the end of it now. Even if the UNIT boys forgot it, there was a very good chance that the Doctor, and, more importantly, her, wouldn't.

"Oh, come one, Brigadier. Look, I'll play the piano and back you up," Sarah offered, as a peace token. Now everybody turned to stare at her. She felt generous after getting him into this.

"I used to play an awful lot," she said, turning round to grin at Harry. "I'm not that awful at it." One of the villagers passed her a sheet of music, and she jumped off the bar, and sat down at the piano stool, remembering all the familiar keys. The Brig took the pipes, and started to play a song from his childhood, sung at every get together his family had. The spine tingling music had always made it one of his favourites.

The Scottish people started to sing, as the Brig would have done, had he not been playing the pipes. Beside him, Sarah played the accompaniment to Loch Lomond.

By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes

Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomon'

Where me and my true love were ever wont to gae

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'

The Doctor and Harry were watching Sarah and the Brigadier. The music floated around and twisted their hearts. The Doctor had seen the Jacobite rebellion, and therefore the origin of the folk song. They both kept their eyes on Sarah, who had her back to them, although she was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

O ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak' the low road

And I'll be in Scotland 'afore ye

But me and my true love will never meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'

The Brigadier was starting to wonder why he was quite annoyed with Sarah Jane. This had always been one of his favourite songs to play, and in truth he was rather enjoying himself.

'Twas there we parted in yon shady glen

On the steep, steep side o' Ben Lomon'

Where in purple hue the Hieland hills we view

An' the moon comin' out in the gloamin'

O ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak the low road

And I'll be in Scotland 'afore ye

But me and my true love will never meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'

Sarah played the final chorus, as the villagers finished singing, to tumultuous applause. They were looking forward to a good singsong, but this was one of the best they'd had for a while. As for everyone else, they were amazed at Sarah and the Brig, managing to play like that.

"Sorry about that, Brigadier," Sarah said apologetically but still smiling. The Brig started to grin too. "About what Miss Smith?"
Sarah felt like a drink so she made her way back to her perch and ordered a gin and tonic.
"That was incredible, old girl," said Harry.

"Thanks Harry," she said, shaking her hands. "Ooh, my fingers hurt. I've not played for ages."
The Doctor took his feet off a table and swivelled round. "Was your choice of song anything to do with our trip there, perhaps?" he said. " Sarah and I took a trip to the Jacobite rebellion in my last incarnation," he added, to Harry's questioning look.

Sarah took a sip of her drink and nodded. As the Doctor turned round and started zapping something from his pockets, rather like a cross between a cigarette lighter and a tin opener, with the sonic screwdriver, Sarah told Harry the rest of the story.

"It was one of my nearer to death near death experiences. I was almost killed, and one of the villagers stepped in front of me just before I got hit with an arrow. He died instantly."
Without thinking about it, Sarah rubbed her glistening eyes with the back of her hand. " So that song was a tribute to his memory. Without him I wouldn't be here. Another face in the Culloden massacre."

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Thoughts? Comments? Tissues? I nearly cried writing that.