A/N unusually for me, this story contains mainly canon characters. I really liked Nancy in The Empty Child and wanted to see how she and Jamie fared. So I thought I'd write a story where she could realistically feature. Of course, she hasn't 'met' the 10th Doctor, hence her not knowing him in this.

Thank you to my previous reviewers. Comments on this story equally welcome.

The Return of John Smith

The tenth Doctor hunted the Tardis for something suitable. Why had he ever given that watch away to Tim Latimer? There wasn't time to go and find Tim and ask for it back. Maybe he could find a way to empty the globe holding the Carrionite. No, too dangerous. He didn't want to unleash that unholy trio on the universe.

If they landed in this era, with the whole world in such a state of darkness, then there'd be no end to their feeding frenzy. He'd tried to lead them away, far into the future to a planet where there was very little light and very little life, but the Tardis had other ideas. It suggested to the Doctor that it was him they wanted, which was why the Tardis was intent on taking him elsewhere.

"Rose..." he said, looking around the Tardis. "Okay, then, Martha? Donna? Sarah Jane? Jack, I'll even settle for you as long as you don't flirt with everything on two legs ... or on any number of legs for that matter." It came to him how completely alone he was again.

That's when it came to him. He knew exactly where he could find Jack. It would take some planning, to arrive before his previous incarnation and Rose did, and he'd have to convince Jack that he wasn't really a conman, but actually a hero in the making. He didn't think Jack realised that when they first met. He only became heroic by accident.

No, it wasn't working. The Tardis didn't want to land in the early 1940s. It was running a couple of years ahead of that. The Doctor just had time to put his memories into the receptacle he found at the last minute before the Tardis landed with a thump.

John Smith woke up and wondered what on earth he was doing in this strange room. By the time he left the Tardis, hidden away in the underground, he had forgotten ever being in there.

1945

He heard her coming down the staircase, her son in tow.

"Come on, Jamie, you'll be late for school. And if I'm late again, Matron will fire me. I can't let Doctor Constantine down. Not after he put his trust in me. Oh..." Nancy hesitated. "Hello, Mr Smith. Are you settling in all right?"

"Yes, yes, thanks," said John Smith.

"Not what you're used to though. A tiny bedsit."

"Well, in these dark days we have to make the best of a bad situation don't we?"

"Some of us more than others," said Nancy, remembering her days of foraging for food. "I still can't fight the feeling I know you from somewhere."

"Did you ever go to school in Yorkshire?"

"With this accent? I don't think so," said Nancy in her clear cockney twang.

"No, of course not. Come along, Jamie, you and I can walk together," said John.

"It's all right, Sir," said Jamie.

"Oh, I get it," said John. "It wouldn't do to turn up for school with the teacher, eh?"

"Not really, Sir. The other kids would have me guts for garters."

"Very well, I'll give you a head start shall I?" John winked at Nancy, who smiled gratefully.

"May I at least walk you part of the way, Miss Smith?"

No one thought it odd that they shared the same surname. After all, Smith was a common name in England. There were at least three more Smiths in various lodging houses on the street.

"Thank you. I'd like that," said Nancy. She hesitated again, wondering if it was a good idea. She didn't want people to talk. Doctor Constantine had done a lot to help her hide the fact of Jamie's illegitimate status, by suggesting she say she was a young widow, whose husband had died during the war. There were so many women with the same story, Nancy hardly stood out.

"Anything wrong?" asked John.

"No, no it's okay. It's just. Well, you know how people talk around here."

"Walking together in the broad daylight is hardly grounds for salacious gossip."

"No, but living in the same boarding house is."

"Well, we'll just have to be careful not to fall in love and prove them right, won't we?"

Nancy actually blushed. If she were honest, she was already drawn to this man. Not just because he was very handsome but also because she felt he was someone she could trust. Someone she had trusted.

"Was it difficult?" she asked, as they walked towards the school and hospital. It was a bright, early summer morning, and Nancy felt optimistic. There was talk of the war being over. She had an idea that she and Jamie would move to the country when it ended. Somewhere they weren't known at all. She was sure they needed nurses in rural hospitals. "Being in prison, I mean?" She'd sailed close to that herself at times in the early years of the war, scavenging to help the other children.

"No, because I wasn't alone. There were other conscientious objectors in there too. It's been harder on the outside. If it were not for Doctor Constantine vouching for me, I wouldn't have got the job at the school."

"Yes, he's good like that. Funny about you knowing him too. He never mentioned you. I was very sorry when he died."

"Yes, me too. He was a good man."

"Yes, he was, especially when..." Nancy stopped. "I thought you were very brave to stand up for what was right. I know it's not what I'm supposed to say. We're all supposed to think this war is a great thing, even though thousands of men are dying, and I do think Hitler should be stopped, but using young men as cannon fodder. We've got men in the hospital who will never be the same again. And if we do manage to repair them, they're just sent back out there to fight some more."

"Yes, it's very sad. Very sad. Well, this is me," said John as they reached the school gates. "I'll perhaps see you later."

"Yes, I'm sure we'll bump into each other."

Jamie hid around the corner until they'd gone, and then crept back into the house. Mr Smith never locked his door. He was a bit gullible like that. Trusted everyone, which Jamie knew you should never do. His mother had taught him that. She said the only people he could ever trust were the two doctors. Constantine and the other doctor who they'd met a few years before.

"They're the only two men who've ever done right by me," Nancy had told him. He got the feeling she'd been a bit sweet on the other doctor, though Mr Smith seemed to be distracting her.

He crept around Mr Smith's bedsit. It didn't take long, and there wasn't much to see. An old shaving mirror with a block of soap, a cutthroat razor and a brush. In the top drawer of the dresser were some socks, underpants and vests. In the next drawer down were sweaters and trousers. It was the bottom drawer that got Jamie's interest. It seemed an odd place to keep it. Why not near the stove where it would be more use? Jamie wondered if he could swap it for something at school. Some of the kids knew American airmen who visited their mums whilst their dads were off fighting. He might be able to get a bar of chocolate. Jamie scooped the object up, and was about to put it in his pocket when he heard a strange sound coming from it. Like voices.

"They're coming ... beware of the dark," the voices said. Jamie shoved the item into his satchel and left the bedsit, realising he'd be late for school after all.