Disclaimer: I don't happen to own Doctor Who.
Summary: The Doctor sobered: „Don't lie to me, Rory, not about this. Not about the important stuff. You're a rubbish liar anyway."
A/N: Just a little something that I came up with today, because I love Rory and even more so the friendship between him and the Doctor, which was IMO sadly a little (and maybe more than a little) underdeveloped on the actual show during the Ponds era, even though it had SO much potential. Set between series 5 and 6.
Tired
The Doctor made the last few checks to make sure that he had set the right coordinates, although he knew now that even if he hadn't the TARDIS would bring him wherever it was that he needed to be no matter what. The question on his mind now was: what next? He still had a few hours to spare until Amy and Rory would wake up in time for another adventure. It was a shame really that humans had to sleep so much, so much time wasted. One would think that since sleeping and eating and well a few more rather unpleasant things was all they did when they were babies they would have had enough for once and all and would rather find more time for doing the exciting stuff once they grew up. Like running around and seeing things. All of time and space he offered them and it had been a pretty damn good offer if the Doctor said so, but even then eating and sleeping was all they did half the time. Well, maybe they did some other stuff as well, but he would rather not think of those things that had the power to make him blush so much. The Doctor screwed up his face in disgust at the thought. He raised his head at the sound of footsteps and was surprised to see Rory joining him in the console room.
"Rory, the Roman," he addressed him, his face full of excitement. "What are you doing up and around? Shouldn't you be sleeping or doing some other humany wumany stuff?"
"I'm not really tired," Rory answered, but his body betrayed him as if trying to protest against the statement and he yawned mid sentence. He proceeded to try to rub the sleep from his eyes drawing the Doctor's attention to the dark circles under his eyes.
The Doctor came closer to Rory for a further inspection, invading his personal space in a typical Doctorish fashion, his nose almost touching Rory's. Before Rory could protest, the Doctor started first: „You look terrible." („Thanks," Rory commented sarcastically.) Did you draw under your eyes with crayons or something?" the Doctor asked suspiciously (Oh, really, thanks," Rory once again couldn't resist the sarcasm.) The Doctor sobered: „Don't lie to me, Rory, not about this. Not about the important stuff. You're a rubbish liar anyway. I've got an idea. You, Rory Pond („Again with this? I keep telling you that's not the way it works,Doctor") are tired," his face brightened once again by one of his trademark smiles, a clear sign that he was up to something. Which, Rory thought as the Doctor tinkered with the TARDIS controls, wasn't such a good sign as most of the time it meant trouble.
„Right, here we are, come here, Rory," he grabbed the human's hand and practically dragged him to the TARDIS door. He opened it and sat down on the floor his feet dangling out into the space and gestured for Rory to join him. Rory sat down reluctantly.
"Now, do you see that?" he pointed out the red and black planet in front of them. "I was here when that planet was born. Right at the beginning, it was still so full of hope and it had everything ahead of itself. And then I was here when it was home to life, you might call it a civilization even. I drank its water and ate its food. And I am here now."
"When it's dying…I don't really get the point, " Rory interrupted him.
"You would, if you let me finish. No, it's not dying. It's just old and tired at the moment, but it's not quite at the end. It's just unsure of what's ahead next. The point is, Rory, that you are old and tired. Not just tired, human tired, but tired of life. Just a while ago, you were Rory Williams from Leadoworth, son of Brian Williams, boyfriend of Amy Pond, a nurse. And you still are all of that, of course. But now you also are Rory, the Roman Centurion with hundreds of years of life on your shoulders. And it's a burden, yes it is. For Rory Williams life was easy, everything seemed so clear and bright. He was so young and hopeful. But Rory, the Roman Centurion is a different story. The Centurion is a tired old man. Living for hundreds of years wears you down. Trust me, I would know," the Doctor turned to him with a sad smile.
Rory sighed: "What do I do, Doctor?" he asked in a desperate need for an answer.
The Doctor contemplated the answer for a while: "Sadly, Rory, even I don't have all the answers. Now I can tell you what I do. What I do is that I run. I keep on running and running, never ever daring to stop. And the day I find the answer to that question is the day that I will stop running. Until that day I'm holding out hope. Take this planet for example. Yes, it is old and tired now, but in another million, well more precisely a billion years it will be a home to life once again, home to an another civilization, the pride of this star system, of the whole galaxy."
Thank you for reading! :)