(A/N: Well, I've been gone for awhile. It feels like forever when you suddenly don't have internet. And that's a bummer. Anyway, this is going to be a Eleventh Doctor/Simm!Master fic. I can't get over the pairing, and quite frankly I don't want to. The show will never belong to me, ever. And if you don't like slash then you should leave now. No graphic situations unless of course you can't handle the mental image of two highly attractive men making out. On with the show!)

I Brought Him Back Too

The Doctor closed his eyes, trying his best not to look like he was fighting back tears that had long threatened to fall. He wasn't doing a very good job of it and Amy paused to watch him. The Time Lord clenched and unclenched his fists, trembling in his own private world, pain etched into his face. Beside her Rory was pointedly ignoring the other man's plight, the Doctor wasn't one to want his feelings interpreted or acknowledged. Though it did occur to him that it was odd subject matter for the alien to suddenly become upset over, he was tempted to let it go. A moment before they had been discussing how little they knew of the new Prime Minister and how hard it was to remember anything about the one before him.

"Doctor, did you…did you know Harold Saxon?" Rory chanced the question in a soft tone as Amy held the Time Lord's clenched hand. At the mention of the name a few tears escaped the Doctor's eyes. Drawing in a sharp breath the Doctor made an attempt to answer.

"Yes and no. If there ever was a human man named Harold Saxon, I never knew him. But then he never was human, and I doubt that either of you would remember him properly. He was called the Master, a Time Lord like me…and I…couldn't save him," the Doctor said, his own tone of voice conveying such self abuse that Amy flinched away from it. In the back of her mind, Amy could recall the face of Harold Saxon, and for some strange reason it melded with the image of a scruffy blonde man. She only recognized them by the eyes, a desperate sort of mad happiness so unique to the face that she knew they were the same man.

"What happened?" she asked gently and the Doctor coughed softly, forcing his emotions away, as she'd always seen him do.

"I lost him Pond. He ended up trapped in a time lock after saving my life…I…don't fret over it, nothing to be done now. We've got Rio to see!" the Doctor's face almost instantly shifted into a smile and he strongly wiped his tears away. The moment of vulnerability was gone; everything fragile about the Doctor had been stuffed deep down into his chest to hide until he was alone again. Amy and Rory decided that it was something beyond them, and he would tell them properly one day if he wanted to.

Hours later, Amy lost Rory; he died to save the Doctor because the Doctor was too curious for his own good. But worst of all, his fiery companion could not remember the love of her life. Direct mentions had done nothing, summoned no images to her mind or light of recognition to her eyes. Above everything, that broke the Doctor's hearts. It wasn't fair. He had memories, he had so many memories of the Master, and suddenly he felt as though he didn't deserve them. So he did the only thing that made sense, he gave them to her. Every single thing that he could remember he told her, hoping, praying, begging the universe with both of his hearts that the story of his lost love, would unlock her memories of her own. He never told her that he had loved the Master, but it was there, and she found it one night as they sat together in the Library.

"You loved this bloke, didn't you Doctor? You loved the Master…I mean how could you not? You grew up together, you've been through everything together…" she said gently and a small saddened smile played over his lips.

"It's beautiful and sad and terrible and wonderful, love such a strange thing. It hurts, losing the only person you've ever loved with every ounce of your being. Not even a grave to visit…Amy…you're crying…" the Doctor's voice broke and he hugged her close, wondering if he'd said the wrong thing.

"Doctor, there's this face I keep seeing when I dream, this goofy stupid face and silly laugh. He's brilliant and wonderful, but I can't ever see him properly or hear him just right. But I just know…I know that I loved him. But how can I love someone that never existed?" she said and he brushed her tears away, placing a kiss on her forehead. Hope burned in his hearts though he dared not to taint her memories with ones of his own. Rory belonged to Amelia Pond and she would find him one day.

When the Doctor met Rory the Roman, his hearts faltered and shock played over his face while his mind played catch up. Amelia Pond, the girl who waited, that incredible child with the crack in her wall had brought a fragment of a remembered dream to life. He had been erased entirely from the universe, but his companions amazing mind had saved him.

Deep down it hurt the Doctor's hearts hurt, she had saved her love, and a simple human girl had brought the man back from never having lived. So why couldn't he, a Time Lord save the man he loved from something as inconsequential as a time lock?

He didn't feel so bad, sacrificing himself; he should have wanted to stay, to keep seeing the world. But he knew that he had done something right, little Amelia Pond would wake up and she would have her family and her Rory. He carried the sleeping girl to her room and covered her up in her bed, knowing that his life would be snuffed out of memory, but that hers would finally be right.

"Amelia Pond, heh, its funny. I thought that if you could hear me I could hang on somehow. Silly me, silly old Doctor. When you wake up you'll have a mom and dad and you won't even remember me. Well, you'll remember me a little. I'll be a story in your head. But that's OK. We're all stories in the end. Just make it a good one yeah? 'Cuz it was you know, it was the best. The daft old man who stole a magic box and ran away with his best friend.

"Did I ever tell you that we stole it? Well we borrowed it at any rate, and I had to take him back. But I couldn't leave her; I always wanted just one more adventure. Oh that box. Amy, you'll dream about that box. It'll never leave you. Big and little at the same time. Brand new and ancient and the bluest blue ever. And the times we had, yeah? Would've had. Never had. Oh the stories I've never told you. In your dreams they'll still be there. The Doctor and his broken heart and Amy Pond helping him, making him better. And the days that never came…The cracks are closing. But they can't close properly until I'm on the other side.

"I don't belong here anymore. And maybe, just maybe I'll find him there, what do you think? I don't belong here anymore…I think I'll skip the rest of the rewind. I couldn't take seeing it again and not saving him. Live well Amelia, love Rory. Bye-bye Pond." The Doctor said sadly, weary and ready to have a rest. He walked through the crack, not caring what was about to happen to him.

When he woke up in his bedroom in the TARDIS he was shocked to say the very least. He hadn't known what it would be like to never exist, but he had very much expected to never wake up again. With a sigh of relief he rolled over and buried his face in the chest of the bed's other occupant, it didn't matter where he was just that moment. He breathed in steadily and soft fingers began to stroke his hair, running through it and lightly scraping his scalp in an affectionate gesture. Twin pulses beat heavily between his lips when he laid them against warm skin and finally reality dawned on him.

He pulled back, startled and confused and stared in open-mouthed fascination.

"I don't know how either. But shut up and enjoy it," the Master said gently, his lips pulled in a brilliant smile before they came down upon the Doctor's. The kiss was full of an intensity that hadn't passed between them in centuries. Love sparked across his mind and thrummed his hearts, and the Doctor gave himself up to the feeling. He allowed the Master to pull him close, reveled in being held and kissed and loved. Of course his mind would not allow him to be selfish for long. They would have their time together.

"I intend to enjoy this to the fullest extent. But only after I've properly thanked the one responsible. Come on, we've got to pick out wedding attire," the Doctor said and nearly leapt out of the bed in childish excitement. The Master however seized the brunette's waist and dragged him back down.

"You think you're getting away without filling me in? Now love that isn't very polite. I ought to say thanks just as much as you," the Master said and smiled as the Doctor pressed their foreheads together. The link between them was easy and when the Master properly understood the last several months of his lover's life he too was slack-jawed with wonderment.

"You told her about me, and here I am. I was a story, I might never have been real to you at all…Your humans, they really are something," the Master's voice was filled with awe that hadn't been present since their childhood. The Doctor smiled triumphantly, he'd always loved it and been exceptionally pleased when the other man saw things his way. "Come here you," the Master breathed and proceeded to kiss the Doctor until both were breathless and disheveled.

"Mmm, you are just too delicious…oh, come on, we have a wedding to attend. You can praise her to her face and then we can dance all night," the Doctor said and selected matching tuxedos for them. After all they were virtually the same size now. The Master was an inch taller, but that really didn't seem to matter. They hadn't been so closely matched since they were children.

Amy knocked sharply on the TARDIS door, her breath held in anticipation as her family and friends looked on. It was only Rory that had understood and he was standing next to her in mere seconds, waiting as well.

"Okay Doctor, did I surprise you this time?" Amy asked, and took a step back as the door swung open, revealing the Doctor in a suit with a rather attractive blonde man similarly dressed on his arm.

"Oh, yeah, completely," breathless with the reality that this woman had saved him; he embraced her and kissed her cheeks all while spinning her around. "You were perfect and astounding and amazing Amelia Pond, oh and Rory Pond too!" the Doctor released Amy and bear hugged the groom, overjoyed to be back. As her husband was assaulted by the Doctor's affections Amy's attention fell to the blonde man. He was watching the Doctor's antics with unconcealed affection and the pieces clicked together in her mind.

"I brought him back too…" she whispered and the Doctor moved to stand beside the Master, where he had always belonged.

"Yes. Amy, Rory, this is the Master," the Doctor said with joy and pride displayed openly on his face. And they knew that it would be much harder for him to conceal his emotions from anyone for quite some time. How could anyone hide that much happiness?

(A/N: I know I had to take some artistic liberties with the Doctor's story time to make this work. But I hope that you like this. I appreciate reviews greatly. I won't ever get any better if no one tells me what I can do to fix it.)