Author's Note: Next chapter. Sorry it took so long to update. I'm thinking of finishing this with one more short little chapter which I hope to put up by the beginning of next week, if not sooner.

I do not own Doctor Who or any of its characters.

Thank you to everyone who is reading/following/favoriting/reviewing this. It is always appreciated. :)

Chapter Two

The Doctor frowned as he looked down at the read out on the console for the third time. He was certain that he had recalibrated all the stabilizers correctly, and yet he was again faced with an error message.

'Oh…crumbs. Very well. Might as well get on with it then.'

He let out a sigh and plopped down to lie on the floor, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and yanking at a panel at the bottom of the central column. Once the panel was removed, he stared at the circuits and wires for a long minute before finding the problem.

'I see. The readout circuit has come loose again. Oh, why can't I get that one to stay connected?'

The Doctor let out a huff and pulled out another small instrument from his coat pocket. As he worked, his eyes watered slightly and he surprised himself by yawning.

'I suppose I really should take some time to unwind before too long. A drug induced stupor is no substitute for rest.'

Repairs finished, the Doctor replaced the panel and hopped up to his feet. He punched a couple of buttons on the console and was soon rewarded with the readout he had wanted to see. He smiled and clapped his hands together softly before reaching down to fiddle with the navigation controls. Soon, he felt the TARDIS leave the Time Vortex and hurl itself toward its next destination.

The Doctor yawned again and patted the console lovingly as he watched the monitors. Eventually, he could sense that the TARDIS was about to land and his intuition was confirmed by a small, blinking light and a shudder that could be felt throughout the room. He smiled again and tugged at another lever, feeling as well as hearing the familiar grind and wheeze as the TARDIS settled down and materialized. The Doctor scurried over to another monitor and scanned the information that appeared.

'Ah, from the look of it this might be Telos, home of the Cryon people. Very fond of the cold and quite friendly according to all reports. Yes, splendid, I've always wanted to meet them. This will be a simply marvelous place to introduce Victoria to the wonders of time and space exploration.'

The Doctor smiled again and watched as the TARDIS fell into a more dormant mode before stretching his arms and walking out of the control room. He was eager to go outside and see what Telos had to offer, but he was also aware that he, Jamie and Victoria had gone through a lot over the last couple of days. All of them could stand to take a break for a few hours before heading off on another adventure and this seemed like a good place to stop for a while.

The Doctor rubbed his eyes and thought about going to his bedroom. However, he quickly changed his mind and strolled down the corridors to his study instead.

The study was a more recent addition to the many rooms of the TARDIS. Not long after he had regenerated, the Doctor had Ben and Polly help him move some of his things out of storage with the TARDIS itself doing most of the work. A bare space was transformed into a cozy room complete with an expansive oak desk, a large, plush couch and a fireplace that came to life whenever the Doctor entered the room.

The Doctor stepped in and immediately, the TARDIS activated the fireplace. He looked upward, smiling appreciatively, and settled down on one end of the couch in front of it. Then he leaned back, pulled out his 500 year old diary and began to read.

It was after he had read the same paragraph four times that the Doctor realized that his mind was elsewhere. He looked up at the entrance and the corridor beyond it and found himself wondering what everyone else was doing right now.

'Hopefully, they are doing the sensible thing and trying to get some rest. I'm sure Victoria was able to find some suitable attire by now.'

The Doctor let out a sigh and sat his diary down in his lap. He thought about Edward Waterfield's last, anguished request that his daughter be taken care of and how he had accepted the responsibility without hesitation. There was the fact that Waterfield had sacrificed his life to save him, but the Doctor knew that it was more than that. He could tell upon meeting her that she was a noble, kind-hearted young woman who deserved far more than to be simply abandoned without family or prospects back in Victorian England.

'She seems to be a bright, open-minded girl with great potential,' he mused. 'I'm sure she will do well in our travels. If nothing else, I'm certain that Jamie will look after her.'

'Jamie….'

The Doctor sighed again and sat his diary down onto a small end table next to the couch. He watched the flames dance and listened to them crackle as he thought again about Victoria, Jamie, and the circumstances that had led all of them into a confrontation with the Daleks.

He had suspected early on, of course, that stealing the TARDIS had been part of an elaborate trap, a trap set by an enemy or enemies of his who knew what its actual purpose was. This fact in and of itself hadn't bothered the Doctor all that much. He had garnered a significant number of enemies in the course of his travels, but remained confident in his ability to outrun and outwit them. No, what bothered him this time was the fact that this opponent was clearly cunning, resourceful, and determined. A part of him worried about Jamie accompanying him while he figured out who was responsible and he found himself glad that Ben and Polly had recently parted ways with him so as to not get involved.

Still, his suspicions and concerns had not prepared him for the moment when Maxtible and Waterfield revealed that the Daleks were the ones who had constructed this trap.

And it certainly had not prepared him for the moment when the Daleks demanded to know Jamie's whereabouts.

The Doctor shuddered. He had managed to defeat the Daleks on Vulcan not long after he had regenerated to his current form. But that success had not erased the memories of the losses he had endured in the midst of another one of the Daleks' plans for conquest.

'Sara…Katarina…Both of them dying while trying to save others…To save me….'

The Doctor chewed at the edge of his thumbnail. While he didn't regret taking the actions he did to save the universe from the Dalek threat, he knew that he would always wonder if the price had been too high.

That debate came to the forefront of his mind the moment the Dalek informed him that they wanted Jamie for one of their experiments. In that moment, he felt his blood turn to ice and instantly realized that he was now forced to consider if he was willing to risk sacrificing another companion in order to stop the Daleks.

It was after he had listened to Maxtible's theories about what the Daleks wanted that the Doctor finally made one of the hardest choices in his life to involve Jamie in this plot. His mind swiftly hatched a plan of its own when he discovered that the Daleks were looking for the best qualities in humans to add to their own natures. As he continued to formulate his plan, he had also pondered, with more than a little pride; that the Daleks had, quite unwittingly, chosen an ideal subject for their experiment.

The Doctor let his hands fall into his lap and leaned back against the couch. It had been a calculated risk, but one the Doctor adamantly believed was worth taking. The chance to finally rid the universe of the Daleks and of the waves of death and destruction that inevitably followed them was far more important than any one life, including his own or even Jamie's. He was convinced that none of the humans around him could fully grasp the stakes that were involved in this gamble and thus chose to keep his true plan to himself.

As he stared at the fire, the Doctor shook his head sadly. Even though he was certain that, if given the chance, he would not alter a single decision he had made, he had been aware every step of the way that his actions would probably irrecoverably damage the friendship he had built with the young piper he had saved from the massacre of Culloden.

The Doctor ran his hands down his face and let out another sigh. When Polly and Ben urged him to take Jamie with them, it had taken the Doctor by surprise. It had not slipped his mind that part of what led to Katarina's tragic death was her inability to handle everything that traveling with him entailed, including dealing with concepts that were far beyond her knowledge and understanding. For a moment, he had hesitated and questioned if Jamie would ever be able to adjust to the world he would be thrust into.

A bitter smile appeared on the Doctor's lips. If any of his fellow Time Lords could see him now, he knew that they would be confused as to why someone of his vast abilities and intelligence would bother with what they would see as a primitive life form. But the one ability he possessed that they would have overlooked in asking such a question was his ability to sense the essence of another being's spirit, to see into their core nature and perceive the good or the evil within their souls. This talent had been put to good use during his travels, especially when he began to truly interact with Earthlings, and had only grown stronger after he regenerated.

It was this intuition that came into play when faced with the choice of taking Jamie with him. At the time he could not form any clear or definite reasons as to why he agreed to Polly's request, but he could not deny how strongly his instincts had urged him to go along with the idea.

The Doctor slumped down deeper into the upholstery. He was also sure that the Time Lords would wonder why he would try to educate the young Scot. In fact, even Ben and Polly sometimes seemed to worry that he might get exasperated with having to explain so many things to Jamie.

Honestly, he couldn't really blame them for that. He was a little astonished himself at how much enjoyed acting as Jamie's mentor. The fact that Jamie turned out to have a surprisingly agile mind, which made him both a quick learner and highly adaptable, was one aspect of it. However, he also found himself sharing in Jamie's excitement as he discovered new things and ideas and he experienced a wonderful mix of pride and delight as Jamie progressed in his learning and his ability to think and reason blossomed.

But just as important to the Doctor were those very qualities that he hoped to distill from the experiment and use in his plan against the Daleks. True, Jamie was often stubborn, impetuous, pessimistic, and fond of complaining. However those negative traits could not overshadow those positive ones he had made sure to extract for the Daleks' human factor and they also included a strong sense of loyalty.

'Oh yes, loyalty,' he thought, a wistful light appearing in his eyes. 'Much like respect and trust, it must be earned. Rightfully so. And I fear I have abused Jamie's respect and trust far too much to expect such loyalty anymore.'

"Ye and me…we're finished. Ye're jes tae callous for me."

"Ye don' give that much for a living being except yerself!"

The Doctor frowned and closed his eyes. Jamie's words had stung, but they were not entirely unjustified. Once he was able put aside his own feelings, it wasn't difficult at all to see how he could be considered cold and manipulative. It may have been by necessity, but necessity probably wasn't much comfort to those who had been on the receiving end of his mechanisms.

It was then that the Doctor realized that the decision to have Jamie travel with him was no longer his to make…and that Jamie might have already made a decision of his own.

'The TARDIS seems to be quite fond of Earth, judging from the number of times we seem to end up there,' he pondered. 'I'm sure it won't be long before we land there again, although hopefully in a less turbulent time period. Then, Jamie can return Scotland. Granted, it most likely won't be his own time, but it will still be home to him. I'm sure he will eventually adjust and be able to make a very happy life for himself. Then I will simply need to find a suitable place for Victoria.'

Lost in his own melancholic thoughts, he started to drift asleep. However, a sound in the entrance way caught his attention, snapping him back to full consciousness. He opened his eyes to see Jamie starting to turn to go back into the corridor.

"Jamie?"

Jamie paused, but did not shift to face him.

"Sorry to wake ye," he said softly.

"It's all right," the Doctor smiled at him. "I wasn't really asleep. By the way, how is Victoria?"

"I looked in on her a little while ago," Jamie responded. "She looked like she was sleeping."

"That's good," the Doctor nodded. "After what she's been through, some rest is just what she needs. Now then, is that a plate of sandwiches that I see in your hands?"

"Aye," Jamie said as he turned toward him. "I was famished and I thought mebbe you might be tae."

"Oh yes, thank you, Jamie," the Doctor replied, beaming.

Jamie nodded and brought the plate of sandwiches over, sitting down on the couch beside him. The Doctor snatched a sandwich at the top of stack as Jamie sat the plate down onto a coffee table that was directly across from them. The two of them ate in silence for several minutes with Jamie staring down at the floor. Soon, they devoured all of the sandwiches, and as the Doctor flicked a few crumbs off one of his sleeve cuffs, Jamie finally began to speak.

"Doctor, I…I've been doin' some thinking," he said. "Aboot everything that happened, aboot what you did…and aboot what I said to ye."

"Jamie…."

"No, Doctor, let me say this," Jamie interrupted. The Scot squirmed in his seat and took a sharp breath before talking again.

"What ye, and Waterfield and that Maxtible did, making me part of that Dalek experiment, using those other people like that…it was wrong, no matter how ye try to put it," he continued. "I get what ye were tryin' to do, but there are other ways of doing things. Aye, I'm still mad aboot all that and prolly will be for a while."

Jamie paused and lifted his head to gaze at the fireplace.

"But even though I still don' like it, I think understand it why ye felt you had to do it," he added. "I jes wish ye could have trusted me."'

"But I do, Jamie," the Doctor finally cut in. "Even if you can't always see it, I do trust you implicitly. I knew that I had to get a sample of a very specific set of traits from that experiment in order for my plan to have any chance of succeeding. But you see, I wasn't worried because I knew I could rely on you to act honorably and generously no matter what the Daleks did."

For a long moment, Jamie did not respond and the Doctor wondered if he was having second thoughts about this conversation. He was relieved when Jamie reclined back against the couch and continued.

"Again, I think I understand what ye're saying there," he said quietly. "And I thank ye for it, but I want to say that there's no need for ye to try to explain it all to me."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow in surprise as Jamie shifted his position to face him.

"When I was not much more than a bairn, I met some of my mother's kin who lived far from us and most other folk," he said. "I remember how they seemed completely daft to me and my brothers. The way they acted and the things they said did nae make any sense to us and we di'n like them all that much at first. But then my father pulled us aside and told us that they were jes different and that their bein' different was no reason to nae treat them as kin."

Jamie paused and took a deep breath. The Doctor could tell that he was considering his next words carefully and made sure to wait patiently for him to continue.

"I suppose that's a lot like ye," Jamie eventually said. "Ye're the daftest chap I'll ever meet. I figure that's to be expected, what with ye bein' hundreds of years old and from another planet and all. How could ye nae be? But what I guess I'm saying is that none of that matters. Nae to me. Ye are who ye are and it's nae my place to judge ye for that. And I know you'll prolly keep doin' things that don' make sense and that I don' always agree wit', but I can live wit' that tae."

The Scot stopped and looked down into his lap and fidgeted for a moment before swallowing hard and meeting the Doctor's gaze again.

"I can live wit' it 'cause even though there's a lot I don' understand aboot ye and all the stuff you do, I know what ye're aboot," he said. "I mean, sure, I don' know things like yer name or where ye come from, but I know the kind of person ye are. And I…."

Jamie lowered his head again, and the Doctor was saddened by the despondent look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," he murmured. "For not trusting ye. For what I said to ye. I dinna mean…. I dinna want to leave, but I would nae blame ye if ye…."

"Jamie, no. Don't think like that. Never think like that," the Doctor said, reaching over to pat Jamie's forearm. "I would like very much for you to stay."

"Thank ye, Doctor," Jamie whispered.

The Doctor smiled again and patted Jamie's arm a couple more times, pleased that the tension between himself and the young piper seemed to be lifting. His happiness was short-lived, however, when he noticed that Jamie still had not lifted his head and saw the anxiety in his features.

"Jamie?"

Jamie gulped and shook his head. The Doctor could tell that there was still something that was on his mind that he felt he couldn't share for some reason. As much as he wanted to know what it was and was tempted to ask him, he swiftly decided that a less direct approach was needed.

"Jamie, I have some things I would like to say to you as well," he said. "I know that you told me that I didn't need me to explain my actions to you, but I would like a chance to try to make you understand one important thing."

Jamie finally looked up, a questioning look on his face. The Doctor smiled warmly for a brief moment before adopting a more serious expression.

"I need you to understand that I have not, nor will I ever, take any sort of risk to your life lightly," he said. "If I involve you in something that I know could be perilous, it's only because there are no better options. It's not because I consider you expendable. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. But you also need to understand that there is another side to this."

"Another side?" Jamie echoed.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded his tone softer. "It's true that, in some situations, your life is in my hands. But it's also true that those same situations often lead to times when I must place my life in yours. It would be so easy then, wouldn't it? For one of us to simply walk away and sacrifice the other one in order to protect himself?"

"But it's nae like that," Jamie replied.

"Exactly," the Doctor beamed. "It's not like that because each of us is aware of our responsibility to each other and it drives us to do what we must. And it's also because both of us know that our faith in the other person is not misplaced…or at least, I can certainly say that is true for me."

"Aye Doctor, it's the same for me," Jamie said, a trace of a smile finally appearing. "Besides, I figured out a long time ago that ye'd be lost without me."

"I don't know if I would take it that far, Jamie," the Doctor said, punctuating his words with what he thought was a suitable frown.

"Ah, ye jes keeping telling yerself that," Jamie said with a chuckle. "But I know the truth."

The Doctor tried to frown even more, but wasn't able to stop himself from letting out a laugh of his own. He rubbed Jamie's shoulder and started to move his hand away when suddenly Jamie grabbed at his arm.

"Doctor, I…" he said, his tone anxious again. "That moment, when ye walked through the doorway when those Dalek beasties had us prisoner…I thought…I thought ye had been turned into one of them. I thought…."

Jamie gulped, his grip tightening slightly.

"I thought ye were nae ye anymore," he nearly whispered. I was…I was…."

"Jamie, I am sorry," the Doctor said somberly. "For everything that happened."

Jamie silently studied him. The Doctor was aware that there was a lot that remained unspoken behind those words, but the look in Jamie's eyes and the smile on his face was enough to tell him that the piper had picked up on all the meaning that had been there.

The Doctor grinned again and patted the hand on his arm.

"Now, I think it would be good for you to get some rest as well," he said. "You've had quite a time of it too, you know."

"I'm nae really that tired," Jamie responded.

The Doctor's brow crinkled slightly as he observed Jamie trying desperately to stifle a yawn while also noting how the Scot's eyelids drooped.

"All right," the Doctor said. "Then how about a little history lesson? I never did get a chance to tell you about the Crimean War. As I mentioned, I actually witnessed the Charge of the Light Brigade. Now that was an amazing example of both human nobility and tragedy. And there were many other facets of this war which I think could be very instructive if studied with an eye toward understanding the follies that were allowed to happen."

Jamie nodded and fell back against the couch as the Doctor outlined the nations that were involved with the war and some of the events that led up to it. After a few minutes, however, the Doctor abruptly stopped when he felt something nudge his shoulder. He turned his head slightly and discovered that Jamie had fallen asleep and was leaning against him.

The Doctor sighed and rolled his eyes, but was not able to suppress a smile. He picked up a small throw pillow from his end of the couch and placed it in his lap. Then he carefully guided Jamie to lie down, gingerly cradling his head with one hand as he lowered it down to rest on the pillow. Once he was done, Jamie shifted his position a little before sliding into an even deeper slumber.

Meanwhile, the Doctor went back to gazing at the fire. His hearts felt lighter than they had in days. He hadn't expected Jamie to forgive him so easily and couldn't deny the relief he felt as a result. However as he continued to reflect on Jamie's words, the Doctor soon realized that the piper had offered him something even more precious than forgiveness: acceptance.

While he still had a great fondness for all the Earthlings he had traveled with in recent years, the Doctor had been aware that there was always a barrier between him and them that he could never completely cross; a feeling that he could not really integrate himself with them because he was not one of them. He could always sense the unease they held due to his secrecy about his past and his origins, and the alienation they sometimes felt when confronted with some aspect of his Gallifreyan heritage or his distinct viewpoints of the universe and the life within it. There had been plenty of affection and reliability with his previous companions, but there was still the fact that most of them were at least somewhat reluctant travelers whose endgame was finding some place where they could part ways.

But all of that seemed to change with Jamie from the very beginning. True, at first he had been apprehensive about what he had gotten himself into, but the Doctor could hardly blame him for that considering his background. Still, Jamie had swiftly moved from hesitation to a playfully grumbling, but eager traveler, a traveler who seemed happy with the journey itself and was not oriented toward any particular destination. A true kindred spirit.

Even more surprising now though was the revelation that there would be no such separation between himself and Jamie: no implicit suspicions due to his alien nature, no expectations that he conform to human norms, and no demands to reveal the parts of himself he was not comfortable with sharing. Jamie had just invited the Doctor to be himself and had shown his willingness to take the good with the bad in regards to the person he was. It soon came to him that Susan had been the last person to wholeheartedly accept him this way, and he suddenly realized just how much he had missed these feelings of belonging now that he finally had them back.

"Doctor," Jamie slurred out as he stirred. The Doctor could see that he was in the grip of some dream, and he suspected that it was not an entirely pleasant one.

"It's all right, Jamie," he murmured, squeezing his shoulder. "Sleep."

Jamie immediately relaxed and went back to a more peaceful slumber. The Doctor nodded. Experience told him that Jamie would probably remain sound asleep for a few more hours, so he settled back against the couch and let himself get lost in his own meandering thoughts.

Soon, they would be starting some new adventure, but for now, the Doctor was content to savor the moment of peace that he had been given.