There was a girl. An ordinary girl, with an ordinary life. She wasn't particularly special, she wasn't important.
Finding her was…an accident.
Once for each face, she saw him. And every time, she knew exactly who he was.
The Doctor strolls down the street arm in arm with Rose, neither seeming to have a care in the world.
A girl, about 17, bumps into his side. "Sorry!" she cries softly, bending to retrieve her dropped bag.
"Absolutely my fault," the man insists, and she stands up to face him.
She was not profoundly beautiful, and had no outstanding characteristics. But perhaps that had been her appeal to him.
"Nonsense," she mutters in a simple American accent. They were in America, of course. God knows why, the TARDIS had sort of just dropped them there. "I wasn't watching. Sorry, again."
She began to walk away, when Rose put out an arm to stop her. "What's your name?"
The girl looks up, a chunk of her scattered brown hair falling in front of her face. She tucks it aside, "Amelia."
"My name is Rose, and this is the Doctor."
"Hello!" the Doctor says cheerily.
"You're not from here, are you?" Amelia asks.
"No," Rose laughed. "London." She glances at the Doctor, then back to Amelia. "-ish," she adds.
"Well, where are you headed?"
"Um, we don't really know," Rose confesses. "Just wandering."
"Looking for trouble," the Doctor adds with a smile and a knowing glimmer in his eye.
Rose smacks his arm gently, her hand making audible contact with the leather. He laughs.
"Well, uh, would you like to have coffee with me? I'm just headed to this shop around the corner," Amelia says nervously, but with a welcome smile.
Rose looks to the Doctor.
He looks back to her, smiles, and then turns that smile to Amelia. "Fantastic!"
Back in America, he thinks. He walks the busy street, half-lost and watching his feet.
Rose was gone. Donna had refused his offer to travel. He didn't really know what to do with himself.
Lost in his thoughts, someone bumps his arm.
"Sorry!" he hears, softly from beside him. She leans down to gather the bag she'd dropped in their collision.
She looks up and catches his eye. "Hello," she whispers.
He looks at her. Intently. Something about her feels…familiar. But he can't put his finger on it.
"I've got to stop doing that," she says when he doesn't return her greeting. "Sorry, again."
She begins to walk away, but his arm stops her.
"What's your name?" he asks.
She studies him for the briefest of moments, and then smirks. "What, you don't remember?"
"Hmm?" he asks.
"You've changed, Doctor," she whispers, still watching him like he's watching her, "in more ways than one."
"Amelia?" he tries.
"Well, it's good to see your memory isn't totally shot," she laughs.
"How long's it been for you?" he asks, relaxing slightly.
She notices his phrasing, but doesn't show it. "About a year," she sighs. "How time flies, eh?"
He smiles in spite of himself. "Indeed it does," he mutters.
"I'm actually on my way to coffee. You coming?" she asks, walking on.
"Let's go," he laughs, and follows.
"Come along, Ponds!" he says, dragging the redhead by the hand, and her dragging another man behind her.
The girl laughs, then calls back, "Slow down, Raggedy Man!"
"Yeah," the other man adds half-heartedly.
"Don't want to be late!" the Doctor insists.
"Late for what?" Amy asks.
"God knows," Rory sighs.
He pulls them along, a human chain travelling down the sidewalk.
He hears a small cry and feels someone ram into his arm.
Amy and Rory then collide into his back.
"Doctor, what've you done now?" Amy scolds.
But the Doctor doesn't hear her. He's too busy studying the face of the girl who's just sent them to a crashing halt.
She stares back at him, just as intently, ignoring her bag that's fallen at her feet.
"Doctor?" Rory tries.
The girl's eyes light up. "Doctor," she whispers.
He's still looking at her, slightly confused.
And the girl smacks his arm. "We've got to stop meeting like this!" she cries, happily, and then wraps her arms around him. "Changed again, I see," she mutters.
Amy and Rory exchange a glance.
When she releases him, he looks just as lost as ever.
"Oh, come on," she scoffs. "Don't tell me you've forgotten me, again."
"I'm sorry," he murmurs, wringing his hands together, "but I don't understand. We're not even in the same state!" he cries.
"I moved, you big oaf," she says, pushing gently on his shoulder. "University."
He smiles. "Oh. Well then, good for you. Amelia," he adds.
She beams, and he embraces her again.
Amy steps forward. "Okay, I'm confused. Who are you?"
"I'm Amelia," the girl tells her.
"Well, so am I," Amy says.
The girl looks to the Doctor and smirks. "Are you, now?" she laughs. "Doctor, did you miss me that much?"
"Coincidence," he says.
"Obviously," she sighs. "You couldn't even remember me!"
"How long's it been?" he asks, ignoring her annoyance.
"For me? Oh, about another year, almost a year and a half. How about you?"
"A lot longer, I can tell you that," he dismisses.
Rory steps forward, now. "What's this, then?"
The Doctor spins so he's beside Amelia, with Amy and Rory opposite them. "This is Amelia. I met her, oh, three or four hundred years ago. I was a different person, then, and we ran into each other on the street."
"Yeah, him and Rose. Quite the pair they were," she says, glancing at his reaction.
His eyes fall for only a moment before he recovers.
"And then again, just him, and a different face, of course."
"What is this, the third you've seen?"
She laughs. "And the youngest looking, by far. You still haven't told me how you do it, but I'm not complaining or anything."
"What do you know?" Amy asks.
"Much less than you, I'm sure," she says with a small smile. "I was just on my way—"
"To coffee," the Doctor finishes. "You always are."
"And I suppose you'll be joining me, then?"
The Doctor glances at Amy and Rory. "What do you two think? Coffee?"
Rory shrugs. "Why not?"
"Clara," he whines.
"Your new face isn't suited for begging, Doctor."
He huffs, crossing his arms.
"Or pouting, I'm afraid," she teases.
"Oh, shut up."
They keep walking. Eventually, he drops his arms, and she takes hold of one.
"Where are we going?" she asks quietly.
He shrugs. "Haven't the faintest," he mutters.
She can tell that it's an almost-lie, but doesn't say anything. So they keep walking.
And walking. And walking.
And that's when it happens. They—specifically, he—bumps into a young woman.
She's brunette, and leading a toddler by the hand. Her bag slips from her shoulder to the ground.
"Again?" she asks. "Geez, Doctor, you think you'd know better by now."
Clara's dumbstruck.
"Sorry," he says with a smile. "My fault."
She gathers the bag and looks up at him. "I'm not arguing," she smirks. "Not this time. That was all your fault."
The Doctor grins, and crouches down to the level of the child gripping the woman's hand tightly.
"Hello, there," he says kindly. "Now what's your name, then?"
"Olivia," the tiny voice tells him.
He holds out a hand to the small girl.
She looks up to her mother for confirmation.
"It's okay," she tells her.
The tiny hand reaches out and takes the Doctor's, shaking it gently.
"Hello, Olive," he says, "I'm the Doctor."
The little girl's eyes widen and she looks to her mother again.
Her mother nods, looking back to the Doctor. "It's good to see you," she tells him softly.
"And you, Amelia," he says. He gestures to Clara. "This is Clara. She's travelling with me."
"So you're one of the lucky few," Amelia nods. "How long have you been with him?"
Clara struggles for words. "Not long," she finally says, "but it feels like forever."
"Always does," Amelia agrees with a sad smile.
"How long's it been?" the Doctor asks her.
Amelia smiles. "Six years. Give or take a few months."
"Are you off to coffee? It seems like you always are."
"That's because I always am, when you decide to show up," she laughs. "And yes. But it'll be decaf for me, I'm afraid."
The Doctor wrinkles his brow for a moment, in thought.
Amelia raises a hand to her stomach and he sighs in understanding.
"You're welcome to join," she adds. "Of course."
"Can we?" Clara asks suddenly.
Amelia looks at her, and smiles. "Always."
A/N: Whoops, I just wrote a fanfiction no-no. Technically it's not me, you know, 'cause I wrote stuff that may never happen to me (kids, university, it's all up in the air until it happens). I just liked the idea. Don't judge, please. And yes, that is supposed to be Peter Capaldi as the Doctor.