Lost
It had been hours. Maybe even days. There was a slight chance it had even been as long as a week or two. The bad thing about travelling with the Doctor was that you never quite knew what time it was at all. That didn't seem to bother the Doctor, though. He just took it in stride and went on about his business. But Sadie found herself more than once wishing that she had a way to keep track of time. Especially now, given her current status. She stopped, sighing heavily, and leaned against the wall. It was starting to seem hopeless.
Sadie was lost. The Doctor had been doing some maintenance on the TARDIS, and Sadie had decided that instead of sitting around and being bored, she would do a little exploration. She had seen quite a few rooms in the TARDIS, even claimed one of them as her own, but the Doctor had told her that there were many, many more. But she hadn't anticipated this.
"This sucks," she remarked to herself. "What was it the Doctor said, if I ever got lost…" Sadie wracked her brain, trying to remember, but it was useless. "This really, really sucks."
Deciding that it was probably better to keep moving, Sadie resumed walking, hoping to see something that look vaguely familiar.
Meanwhile, back in the console room, the Doctor was humming to himself as he tinkered with his beloved TARDIS. He absolutely loved this time, when it was just him and his ship. He didn't like being alone all the time, but there was something to be said for brief periods of it. Sadie seemed to realize this, since she liked being on her own occasionally too. She had wandered off probably half an hour or so ago, saying something about exploring the TARDIS. The Doctor's forehead furrowed as he thought. Had it only been half an hour since she had left? He poked his head out from underneath the console. He often seemed to lose track of time when he was working. He grinned to himself at the thought of a Time Lord losing track of time as he slid out from under the console. It would probably be a good idea for him to go find Sadie, since she had probably been gone for quite awhile. He hadn't lost a companion in the TARDIS yet, and he didn't really care to begin now. He strolled off through a corridor idly, hands stuffed in his pockets, humming once again.
Sadie stopped again in a long hallway and slid to the floor. She'd probably walked miles by now. She was debating just giving up entirely. She could keep walking, but she was probably only getting herself more lost than before. She was starting to get somewhat hungry too. With her luck, she'd probably starve to death before she found her way out.
"Geez, I'm depressing," Sadie said, wrinkling her nose. "It can't end up that badly. Surely the Doctor will notice I've been gone awhile and he'll come looking for me…then again…he was working, and he never pays attention to much of anything when he's working…but still! He wouldn't just leave me…"
Sadie couldn't help but follow that line of thought. She hadn't ever really gotten the Doctor to tell him much about those who had travelled with him before her. He had mentioned them a few times, but any time she asked, he avoided answering. Maybe they were lost as well. When he got tired of them, he just let them wander off on their own, and they were now lost somewhere in the maze that was the TARDIS. Maybe that was how he did it, and it would explain why he didn't like talking about them. Sadie shook her head. Thinking like that definitely wasn't helping her.
"Positive. I need to stay positive," she told herself. "I need to stop being so negative, get up, and find my way out of here." Sadie was silent for a moment and then sighed. "Or, I could just sit here for awhile longer…" She slumped back against the wall, her momentary bravado faded completely.
She perked up, however, when she heard whistling and footsteps approaching. She watched incredulously as the Doctor rounded a corner and strolled towards her nonchalantly, looking as if he didn't have a care in the world.
"Hello!" he called. "Having fun?" Sadie sprang to her feet and ran to him, flinging her arms around him and squeezing tightly, nearly knocking him over in the process. He smiled and returned the hug. "Happy to see me?"
"Extremely," Sadie replied, hugging him even tighter.
"What's all this about then?" he asked, slightly confused when she didn't let go. "Surely you're not that happy to see me."
"I was lost," Sadie confessed, finally releasing him and stepping back a little. "I've been wandering around for, gosh, ages now, trying to find my way out and I couldn't! I just kept walking and walking and walking, and then I figured that I'd probably never find my way out and you'd just keep fiddling with the controls and stuff and I'd just wander around forever, probably like all the other people that travelled with you before me and you just wouldn't care at all, you'd just go find someone new to take my place and visit cool places and stuff and it was just really, really horrible." She sniffled a little, feeling very sorry for herself. The Doctor looked highly amused.
"Finished?"
"I think so."
"Good. Now really, do you honestly think I'd do something like that to you? Really?"
"I guess not."
"Exactly. There's not a chance I'd leave you to wander the TARDIS forever."
"You really mean it?" Sadie asked, starting to feel ever so slightly better.
"Of course!" The Doctor replied, hugging her once again. Sadie felt very relieved. "Now that we've gotten that all settled…I've almost finished the upgrades, so we can be on our way again very soon. Care to give me a hand?"
"Sure," Sadie agreed. The two of them walked back in the direction the Doctor had come from, rounded the turn, and were back into the console room. Sadie was flabbergasted. "Wait a minute!" she exclaimed. "You mean I was that close, this whole time?"
"Yup."
"I went through all that turmoil, all that trauma…and I was this close?!"
"Yup."
"That's so lame."
"Yup," The Doctor repeated for the third time, popping the 'p' loudly, grinning. Sadie shook her head.
"I'm such an idiot."
Notes: I was insanely bored, and I thought this would be an interesting little one off. If it was me in the TARDIS, I'd definitely get lost more than once!