AN: Hey there, it's Miss Shorty McShort Oneshots again, with another short thingy for you.

Mostly set between Victory of the Daleks and The Time of Angels.


Amelia Pond flicked her hair over her shoulder, smiling brightly and holding one hand out. "Where to this time, Doctor?"

The alien grinned right back, taking her hand with an over-exaggeratedly proper air. "Well, Madam Pond, I was considering a lovely beach planet, perhaps one with a place to dance?" He did a few moves with her before letting go and springing off to hit a button or two on the TARDIS console.

She caught on quickly, replying with those ridiculous airs and graces she knew so well. "Well, Sir Doctor, I am extremely picky about which planets I stay on, particularly if there is a great big thing going on when I visit."

The Doctor spun a dial and quickly pumped a lever, spinning on his heels and laughing like a maniac. "Well then, Madam Pond, I will make sure to pick a time with no great big things going on."

Amy walked over, reverting to her normal way of speaking. "I've always wanted to go to a beach. Never really got the chance to travel while I was in Leadworth."

"Yes, well, that's understandable, considering that I almost fell asleep in the first five minutes of being there."

She punched his shoulder. "Excuse me? You were busy with saving the world and eating fish fingers!"

The Doctor tapped a few random-looking keys on his typewriter. "Well, in-between all that," he amended.

He looked up a minute later to see Amy still standing there. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get your bathing suit on!"

"Oh, fine, as long as you change, too. Anything to get you out of that bow-tie," Amy teased as she brushed past him.

"Bow-ties are extremely cool!" he called down the hall to her. His only answer was her ringing peals of laughter as she skipped through the TARDIS hallways.


Now, as he sits in the library, all alone, the Doctor remembers that day. He remembers the sunshine, the sand, how she dumped water on him when he refused to jump in the ocean, how she teased him for wearing his bow-tie with his bathing suit, every move she made, every word she said.

How she smiled at him.

Just that, the simple memory of her smiling at him, that is enough to set him off. He cries, great, racking sobs, for the first time since he regenerated. He's been angry since then—so, so angry—but he's never cried.

Well, there's a first time for everything, he thinks ruefully.

He hasn't felt so lonely in a long time.

He has a feeling that he will stay lonely for a while yet.

Once again, the Doctor is alone in his TARDIS. And once again, it is not by choice.


AN: Can you believe that this was supposed to be FLUFF?

Arrrrrrgghhh *flail* why do I always end up writing angst.

By the way, the end is set after that unspecified "heartbreaking goodbye" that we will say to the Ponds next season. I know, I'm sobbing under my covers, too.