Alphabet Soup

Challenge: Write 26 drabbles or oneshots. The inspiration for each will be a word starting with a different letter of the alphabet. Pick the words yourself. Anything goes.

Spoilers for all five seasons of the new series. Many pairings, mostly canon, some not. Disclaimer: Not mine.

Part Two: G-M

GAME

Sitting on a bench, watching little kids play.

He never thought he'd be doing something as mundane as this, and still enjoy it.

"She's adorable, isn't she?" somebody asked, sitting down next to him. Jack looked up. It was a young man, perhaps in his mid-twenties, yet oddly dressed in tweed, like an old professor or something.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Who?"

"Rose," the man answered flatly, his eyes flicking back to the field. Six-year-old Rose was playing with her "brother" Mickey, kicking a football around in the grass. They were having a blast. Jackie was watching from afar while chatting with another mother. None of them noticed the two men on the bench, watching her.

"How'd you know I'm looking at her?"

The man leaned towards Jack slightly and tapped his nose. "Because you miss her as much as I do," the man confided, winking.

He was cheerful, Jack noted, but within his eyes… Sadness. A similar sadness to his own. And age, painful age.

"Doctor?" Jack asked hesitantly. "But it can't be. I thought regeneration was just a myth."

"Next time you see me, it'll be the real me – the one in your timeline, Jack. I'll have regenerated then, too. Just tell him the box gives it away, that's how you know." The Doctor sighed. "Things get better Jack. Sometimes they're sad. Sometimes they aren't. But eventually, change comes, as it always does. Embrace it." He glanced at Rose. "You'll see her again, too. But for me, that time's gone. You're gone. That's how it is. And maybe I'll meet you, my you, again."

He stood up again on rickety knees, and started to leave. "Doctor!" Jack called out.

"Yes?"

"I think this you will take it better than my you. Just want you to know – I'll love you till the day I die."

The Doctor turned back and frowned at him, but his eyes shone with amusement. "No, you won't. You called me an old friend that day. I should know; I was there." He began to walk off again, leaving Jack to puzzle it out.

And puzzle he did.

HEAL

Really, he's absolutely fine. Yes, that spear did nick his shoulder. Okay, maybe it drew blood. Look, it's only a little scrape, really.

Rose just laughs, shaking her head. Because he's just so, so stubborn. Doesn't know why she puts up with him.

Nevertheless she goes to the kettle and pours tea for both of them, and they sit in the TARDIS kitchen quietly, sipping their tea.

It's rather domestic, but that's fine. This new Doctor doesn't mind domestic, if Rose is there. And besides, though he'll never admit it, he definitely needs to be cared for and looked after, and that shoulder does hurt, a little bit. The tea helps, but seeing her teasing grin heals him more.

ISLAND

For sixteen years, he sat, and never saw the sky.

Then, one day, he looked up. They'd dug him out, they had. The Romans. Real ones, actually. Not plastic ones. It'd be a little troubling if they were plastic, so not plastic was good.

And they decided they liked the box. And they wanted to bring it back to Rome, because admittedly, it was a pretty cool box. He agreed. As long as he could stay with it, and as long as nobody tried to open it. They could put it up in the center of the Forum, for all he cared.

Just as long as she was safe, and he was at her side.

So they took him to the island of Sicily, and the box went on public display. Romans.

And he looked up at the sky. There were no stars. It was dark.

Maybe it was better that Amy couldn't see this. Amy loved stars. So he'd guard her box, and keep her in there until the Doctor came, and they could get the stars back.

Eventually.

But it would take a lot of sixteen years.

JAIL

There's a point where imprisonment just gets boring.

No, really.

For some reason, it's always the same. They get caught flouting some ridiculous rule, or maybe they're just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Happens a lot, really. At this point, even Rose is used to it, which is rather funny, actually. It takes companions ages to get used to imprisonment. Which shows just how long Rose Tyler's been with him. Which is nice.

Point is, it's gotten ridiculous.

They'll be escorted to a typical jail cell and the local law enforcement will try to intimidate them. It doesn't work. Ever.

This time, Rose and the Doctor just looked at each other and laughed, and started comparing the senior guard to some bloke they'd met in France, 1905. Which was rather insulting, considering the senior guard was female, decidedly non-human, and from the fifty-ninth century.

Then, they were thrown in jail. Separate cages this time, as they complained. Oh, well. At least it made the escape remotely more interesting.

Seriously. It needed more interesting.

Frankly, Rose Tyler had become used to this. And while it was still fun and enjoyable for them both, the Doctor couldn't help but grin with bored amusement.

Because Rose Tyler, imprisoned, was supposed to be shaking with fear.

And she had promptly curled up and fallen asleep.

Oh, Rose.

KINDNESS

Logically speaking… Well, there is no logic. Never mind, that line of thought was rubbish anyway.

She's just this one, plain, human girl. Utterly normal. Works in a shop. Nothing special at all. Sweet, stubborn, a sense of humor, nice, annoying, slightly stupid (but actually, very clever). One hundred percent mundane.

Except, she's not normal, and she's absolutely special. Really, it doesn't make any sense. Time twists around her, almost as much as it does around him. She and time are inextricable from one another, and he doesn't quite understand why. On this simple, normal planet, which he used to love so much, she is like a bright beacon of light, outshining everything.

He should really go. He doesn't need anything, or anybody. He's a Time Lord, the last of them. And what good would having a human do right now? Humans don't understand. They couldn't. And she, bright as she is, why would she want to come? She turned him down once.

He realizes he's forgotten something. He forgot to tell her the true extent of the TARDIS' power. Space, yeah, but he'd missed the point.

Maybe he should tell her, just to see. Because he's curious. It's a trait that not one of his regenerations has lost, the curiosity, the need to know.

What makes her so special?

He wants to know her.

Did he mention it could travel in time?

LAPEL

This is absolutely the most snoggable Doctor yet.

And he's too young. Jack feels like a cradle-robber just looking at him. Hilarious, when you think about it.

But honestly, all he wants to do is pull him forward by that bowtie of his and unwrap him like a present, bit by bit, braces, jacket, shirt and all.

While snogging him.

Alonso was sweet, and the gesture was kind, but Jack wishes that just once the Doctor would let a guy buy him a drink. This guy, specifically.

The only two (nearly) immortal guys in the universe, and they both have to be gorgeous, and one of them has to be such a prude.

It's just not fair.

MUSIC

Once a year, Rose and the Doctor meet at Tyler manor, in the centre of the party room, and the rest of the house knows to clear out and stay away until morning comes.

They dim the lights, the first few years. When Tony is seven, he barges in one day. In that silly way a child does, he questions everything he sees. Eventually, Rose and the Doctor manage to wave him away and send him back to bed, but he gives them a nice idea. From that point on, they use candlelight instead, and decide that it suits the room much better that way.

It's a large, spacious room. Nearly a ballroom, but not quite. It's good enough.

The music begins to play, and they are transported in time. Not literally, for a change.

Rose's arms go around the Doctor's neck, and her head rests against his chest. He holds her around the waist, and together, they sway and dance slowly across the room, to the sweet sounds of Glen Miller, and remember.

(One day, when he's eight, Tony Tyler decides that someday he will grow up to be like this Uncle Jack person his sister always misses and says she loved, and he doesn't learn for many years why exactly that makes both Rose and the Doctor both amused and scared out of their wits.)