Author's note: Thank you to all who have reviewed, and followed. :) I am not really sure about Sarah Jane's characterization since I've only seen the Time Warrior, so it would be dandy if you could give some tips. :D Thanks guys!

~xFuntoosh

Silence engulfed the air of the cool, gray TARDIS console room. A fair-haired young man kneeled down on the floor in a puddle of his own blood. His long, cream-colored frock coat was torn at one elbow, and the entire left side of his upper body covered in mud. A spray of green slime was slashed across his cricket jumper, and his striped pants were stained a sickly crimson.

To his right lay a glass vial, broken and forgotten. The man's dark blue eyes were fixed on a lifeless body in front of him. It was a girl, her short dark brown hair and loose-fitting outfit identifying her as his companion. Or former companion. The Time Lord continued to stare at her for an undefined amount of time, as if all his willing and wishing would make her get up and address him again in her American accent. "Doctor?" He could almost hear her quizzically calling to him.

Eventually, the unbearable pain from his leg wound forced the Doctor to get to his feet and seek out some kind of first-aid. A sense of guilt overwhelmed him, just like the time Adric died, but worse. It was only their second adventure together. She was just a young girl with her whole life ahead of her. What right do I have to snatch it away? I've only brought bad luck to my companions - Adric died, Tegan almost had an emotional breakdown, and now Peri.

Peri Brown. The name itself in his thoughts seemed sinful to the Time Lord. He was responsible for her death. If only he hadn't set the TARDIS co-ordinates to the wretched Androzani Minor. If only. The Doctor limped to the double doors that led to the corridors, taking one last glance over his shoulder at the limp body of the college girl that he had indirectly killed.

I'm not going to travel with another companion. Never again. I'm not going to let another person die because of me. What... what right do I even have to live after this? The words formed in his mind as he pushed the door open. After walking a few paces, the Doctor was startled to find something cool, and unfamiliar rolling down his cheek.

Tears. They came in greater numbers now, surprising the Time Lord. He hadn't cried in a long time, not even at Adric's death. The pain in his leg distracted him, blotting out everything else except the wound and the tears.

"I'm sorry," The Doctor whispered out loud, his voice cracking with pain.


The Time Lord walked down the corridors of the TARDIS in dead silence, unaccustomed to the loneliness of his Type 40 machine. He had always travelled with companions before to keep him company on his journeys throughout time and space.

But not anymore. The Doctor let out a sigh as he turned the corridor into the library room. He had tried to occupy his mind with books, but thoughts of his previous companions kept haunting him. Nyssa's interest in books. Tegan taunting him over being a bookworm. Turlough's regular disappearances into the TARDIS corridors.

Trying to focus his attention on something else, he glanced down at his leg. It had been two full days since the events of Androzani Major, and the bullet wound from one of the troops had stopped him from getting to Peri in time to give her the bat's milk. The Doctor sank into one of the chairs, staring into space for a few moments as he recalled taking Peri's body back to her parents.

"She drowned. I'm sorry." The lie had hurt him almost as much as the bullet wound, since he couldn't even tell her parents how she died, and how it was his fault for dragging her into that. I've died five times too, it's just that I'm a Time Lord. Humans can only live once, and I have no right to kill them by inviting them along with me. He reflected sadly. Just then, he heard a noise, a strange one.

"Who's there?" The Doctor called, jumping to his feet. He winced as he put weight on his right leg, the one that was wounded. Puzzlement soon overtook the pain, however. I locked the TARDIS doors. How can anyone get in? Still unwilling to carry any weapons, he gently pushed open the door to the library, sticking to the words he had said in his fourth incarnation - "If someone sees you are unarmed, they will be less likely to hurt you."

Not that he was afraid, of course. The intruder - whoever he or she was - would definitely be sorry for breaking into his TARDIS! The Doctor calmed himself with the thought, since he was in the superior position for a change. Maybe it's a fan, He chuckled slightly at the thought. When he had met his tenth incarnation, he had inadvertently blurted out things about him being a fan.

Another loud bang brought him back to reality. The Doctor rounded a corner to see a broken vase on the floor. "Aw, come on!" He couldn't help but blurt out. "It was from the Tang Dynasty! I had to fight off scores of other Chinese peasants just to get it!" With a sigh, he decided silently that it could be replaced.

Yes, a vase is replaceable. Peri isn't. The pessimistic part of his mind started once again. While he was distracted by those thoughts, the intruder dashed past him, in the direction of the console room. "Oh no you don't!" The Time Lord shouted, mainly to himself, as he took off in the same direction, trying his best to ignore the pain in his leg.

A few seconds before he reached the double doors, the Doctor heard a scream - obviously a girl's. He threw the doors open, and the sight that greeted him was the last thing in the universe he ever expected to see.

"Sarah Jane Smith!" The words formed on his lips before he had time to think.