Do you know where I can buy the Doctor Who?

For Inspibrain101, this probably isn't what you expected.

The Doctor sighed quietly to himself as he sat down at the ornate Presidential desk and rubbed his worn fingers along the elegant patterns. There was much to be done today on Gallifrey and the Lord President need not slack off. He frowned looking at the stack of papers on his desk and groaned again. He wearily rubbed at his forehead and wondered how he had ended up here. Where had his dreams of adventure gone off to? All the wonderful places he had planned on seeing? He was countless centuries old and he was still in his first body having never once left his home planet. Since he was alone in his office he allowed himself the small indiscretion of putting his elbows on his desk and resting his wearied head in his hands.

He was just so tired of this. He thought staying on Gallifrey and helping to change its stoic ways would be good. He wanted to make a difference and ensure that his planet was not lost beneath its insufferable bureaucracy. But two hundred years into his term as President and he was realizing that his efforts were mostly in vain. The council overturned every proposition of his that was in any way different and he was nothing more than a glorified pencil pusher. Closing his eyes, the Doctor imagined, just for a moment, what his life could have been. He'd almost stolen a TARDIS once a long, long time ago and sometimes he liked to daydream of the adventures they could have had throughout time and space…

"So Atraxi III, have you heard of it?" The Doctor asked his latest companion, a young human girl named Clara Oswald who was an impossible mystery he was determined to solve. He looked at her through the corner of his eye hoping that she would reveal her purpose but she was too busy tying up her hair.

"'fraid not, should I have?" She questioned, taking the toast out of her mouth once her hair was done up and began munching on it. The Doctor groaned a little and gently tapped her away from the console. The old girl still wasn't over the fact that Rory got crumbs stuck in the console 350 years ago. Oh dear Rory…

"Well yes actually, remember in oh what was it? 2010 when a giant eye appeared on the telly telling people to hand over Prisoner Zero or else they were going to incinerate the planet? They put up a force field that made the sun look all… wibbly. Ringing any bells?" Clara quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah but that wasn't aliens, that was the government trying to get people all whipped up, trying to get them to believe all that Torchwood nonsense." The Doctor snorted.

"So Torchwood's still mucking things up lovely," he muttered to himself before addressing his companion. "Right, that's wrong. Who told you that?" He asked dryly watching Clara wince.

"My dad… But it wasn't aliens, it was just, I don't know stuff!" She said stuffing the last bit of toast in her mouth and wandering back over to the console. He stuck out his lip and puffed out his chest.

"Stuff? Stuff! I'll have you know I was right there in the thick of it! I'd only just regenerated into this body and the Earth was about to be roasted! Took me awhile to get my head on straight. I don't where I would have been if not for Amel-" he paused mid-sentence at the ease at which he'd almost let her name pass.

He hadn't spoken her name aloud in decades, not since the last time Vastra, Jenny and Strax tried an 'intervention' on him back when he was still on his cloud in Victorian London. He swallowed and wandered over to the other side of the console if only so Clara couldn't see him. Was he really getting over the loss of the boy and girl who waited? Did he even want that? He looked up to see Clara eyeing him with a worried expression as she gently wandered over next to him, knocking into him gently.

"Hey, you alright? You just suddenly stopped talking and I almost never hear you stop talking. I'm practically convinced you don't breathe by the amount that you talk." The feeling of sadness had passed him as he reached up and indignantly straightened his bowtie.

"Oh of course I breathe! I'm breathing right now you silly ape." He said demonstrating by blowing right in her face which caused to yelp and take a step back. "Honestly, I'm trying to tell you about the Atraxi invasion of Earth and you're going on about breathing. I've never met such a distractible species as humanity. Maybe I won't take you Atraxi III then, perhaps I'll land us on Caliberibreus VII, the parking garage planet."

"Oh calm down you, you're more temperamental than Angie on picture day you are. Take me to Atraxus III or wherever we're going just stop your pouting already. You promised me 101 places to see and thus far I haven't seen much more than your crabby ship." The Doctor smirked and began plugging in his coordinates with dizzying speed.

Oh his Impossible girl, the only mystery worth solving and a good distraction from his pond-Ponds depression. But she was more than that, so, so much more. She was funny and witty, adventurous and caring and she had helped him. He tried to tell himself that this was temporary, that he wasn't ready to move on after the anguish of losing Amy and Rory… but watching her grab onto the railing as the ship shook he thinks he just might reconsider. He grinned.

"Geroni-"

"My Lord President?" The Doctor snapped to attention inadvertently scattering some of the papers on his desk. His secretary gave him a withering look before depositing another hefty stack onto his desk.

"You've been in here nearly an hour Sir, you really must get started on this. The high council is convening soon and they want your opinion on the latest news from the Outsiders. Please cease your daydreaming and get some actual work done if you don't mind." With that she left the room, not quite slamming the door but pretty close. Hmm what a horrid woman, but a practical one.

He looked down with misery at the stack of papers which was now twice as large, he really ought to get started. Who knew what awful ruling the council would make without him there to be their moral compass? He'd just have to finish the adventures of the Doctor and Clara sometime later. He was quite liking this story so far; he liked the mystery that Clara posed. In some ways he wished he'd kept his favorite characters, the Ponds, around for a little while longer but even he had started to grow bored with their storyline now that that they had become family. He thought up these ideas to escape and River, Amy and Rory had been threatening to tie the magical Doctor down.

He still wasn't sure what he would do with her yet, he was thinking of making her a physical representation of Time itself there to pull the Doctor from his stupor, or to have her scattered in time as a way to save his life from some… yet unthought-of peril. Maybe he should bring back an older villain, from one of his earlier daydreams. He pushed the thought aside for the moment and began to read the document in front of him. His dreams were all he had now, the dreams of the could-have-been adventures.

He smiled a little to himself as he signed the paper, still somewhat caught in the glow of his imaginary world. By the time his secretary came to collect him, it was long gone along with his hopes for a better and more fulfilling life.

Well hello there, this is a rather interesting one and I've a few things to say on it. One, Inspibrain101 (a lovely reviewer thanks a bundle!) asked to see the Doctor unhappy as Gallifrey's Lord President which of course brought me to this idea. This is an amalgam of numerous ideas, the idea that the Doctor stayed on Gallifrey, the idea that all of his adventures are actually just fictions in his head to starve off an unhappy life. Of course the title is based on the short story (now movie) The secret life of Walter Mitty. A look into the idea that what if it wasn't real? All the running about and monsters and companions and it was just a sad man writing fan fiction in his head. Think of it what you will. I think I'm getting a better grasp for Clara's character (which is why that middle sequence went on for a little longer then intended) and I look forward to writing her with Capaldi. I do read your reviews (I la la love reviews) and I do take ideas seriously. One or two shots have been inspired by reviews so feel free to throw out ideas and I'll see what I can do :)