A/N: Hey all; just a short oneshot that I absolutely had to get out before I could even think about Ch.6 of Wedding Eve. There may be another one, I'm not sure, the idea is up there, but I'm not sure if it'll block Ch.6 or not. Wedding Eve is definitely my priority. Anyway; Check this one out, it is short, definitely AU of S.5, set just after the first ~10 minutes of The Eleventh Hour. Spoilers for those 10 minutes, but nothing past that. Take this story as friendship, romance, whatever. It isn't smutty, or even really fluffy. Just a sort of introspective fic on what the Eleventh would be like without the fiery Miss Amelia Pond. Read, enjoy, please review.
Disclaimer: Not mine. The characters are owned by, I would assume, the BBC.
The Doctor was hurtling through space, trying to figure out what exactly was happening to his TARDIS. None of the levers or switches were working; it was like the TARDIS was picking her own destination, but that was impossible! He had removed the randomizer years ago!
As he was flying through the Vortex with nothing to do, the Doctor started to think. He thought of the strange little girl, Amelia Pond, who gave him fish custard right after his regeneration. She had wanted so badly to join him in his travels through time, but the Doctor drew a line at a certain age. Whatever the age was, seven was well below it.
So he had left her, no doubt breaking her young heart. He felt bad, but there was no other way. Even if he wanted to go back to her, he couldn't guarantee when he would land! It could be five minutes, or it could be twelve years!
The repercussions from such a trip could be ghastly, too. A damaged TARDIS drops down, ripping the vortex apart with the crash landing. Another trip within fifty years or so, and about a mile, of that point in space-time could cause a temporal disaster so big that the Doctor didn't even want to consider the ramifications. Cracks in the universe, some giant horrible temporal explosion when the timelines diverged again... The Doctor shivered at the thought.
No, unfortunately for young Amelia Pond, the Doctor couldn't return to her. Now he was lonely, hurtling through time and space all by his lonesome, not even being allowed to choose the destination!
As the Doctor was working through his frustrations, and at the same time trying to figure out exactly how big the resulting explosion would be if he decided to go back and get (a slightly older) Amelia Pond, the TARDIS began to slow her descent. Soon enough, the Doctor recognized the familiar signs and sounds of landing.
Whooping in joy, the Doctor quickly grabbed his tweed coat and checked his reflection in a monitor on the TARDIS center console. Luckily, after his crash landing, the TARDIS had refilled the wardrobe, even having this smart getup. He was even wearng a bowtie!
"Bow ties are cool, right?" the Doctor whispered to himself, straightening said tie in the reflection. He hopped over to the TARDIS doors, for the first time in a very long time unsure of his destination.
When the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS doors, he was expecting some alien planet, maybe a secret uprising on Episfortax Seven, maybe the mysterious planet of Tengu that disappeared a few milennia after the birth of the universe. Instead, he saw a small paved area, surrounded with shops and wandering crowds, overlooking what looked like... Yes, that was Cardiff Bay. And by the people walking around... early twentieth century?
The Doctor wondered why the TARDIS had brought him here. He checked the back of his mind, where he was connected to the TARDIS, and found that she didn't need to recharge, so that wasn't it. What was he forgetting...
As the Doctor was pondering, one of the paving stones in the center of the pavilion dropped down and a man on a small rising platform rose up.
The man was rakishly handsome, with wavy brown hair and a strong face. He was wearing a long military greatcoat, and when the wind blew, it swayed, revealing an old-style revolver in a holster on his hip. Even though none of the other passerby seemed to notice the Doctor and the TARDIS, this man immediately spotted the younger-looking man wearing a tweed jacket, lost in thought. He walked up to him, leaning on the door of the TARDIS.
"Doctor?"
The Doctor jumped, turning towards the handsome young man laughing at him from his TARDIS.
"Jack! Oh, Captain Jack Harkness, it's good to see you!"
Jack was nearly bent over with laughter by this point. He regained his compsure to ask the Doctor, "New face?"
The Doctor's face broke into a wide smile when he saw his old friend. "So how have you been, my immortal friend?"
Jack broke into an equally wide smile. "Immortal as always, it seems. And you? New face, new body, new hair... I like it."
The Doctor laughed. Jack always knew exactly what to say to buoy his spirits. "Yes, yes. Spot of trouble here and there, you know how it is."
"Yeah, I guess I do, Doctor. Just destroyed Abbadon, the destroyer of worlds myself."
"Really? Always getting into trouble, I see. Well, Jack Harkness, I have a proposition for you."
Jack smirked at the Doctor. "Shouldn't we at least get dinner first?" he asked.
Blushing, the Doctor smirked at Jack. "Slowing down, Jack? I remember when the sex was dinner and dinner was dessert for you."
Jack, unashamed, smiled at the Doctor and looped an arm around his shoulders. "Doctor, Doctor, Doctor. Figure of speech. Of course I'll travel with you, and this time, my seduction will work."
The Doctor turned to Jack, pressing the taller man against the doors of the TARDIS. "Maybe you won't even have to seduce me," he said, leaning into Jack.
Jack leaned forward, reaching his lips up towards the Doctor's. Before they could touch, however, the Doctor snapped his fingers. The door of the TARDIS opened, spilling Jack backwards onto the floor of the control room.
The Doctor laughed heartily, pointing at Jack splayed out on the floor of the TARDIS. When he caught his breath, the Doctor helped Jack up, saying, "But that doesn't mean I won't make you try."
The laughing pair made their way into the TARDIS, holding hands the whole way. And for once, the Doctor didn't feel lonely.