No Doctor for me.


It's often thought that once a companion ceases their travels with the Doctor that he never visits them in their everyday lives. This is, in fact, false; it's not well known but the Doctor always tries to stop by and visit old friends whenever he can. He sometimes goes to see faithful servant girl Katrina who came from Ancient Troy and never stopped being amazed at him. He tells her about things from the future she would have liked and always leaves some flowers at her new home. He pops by to say hello to Sara Kingdom as well, tells her would've had liked to have travelled with her longer and wishes her well in her old age.

In his travels he'll come across complex formulas or math problems which he always leaves for Adric when he visits him. That boy loved to work out math formulas on the TARDIS and even now that they've parted way the Doctor tries to quench that boy's thirst for knowledge and attention whenever he can. Even the android Kamelion gets a visit from the Doctor once every blue moon where he now resides on Sarn, hopefully happy now that Master was no longer possessing him. The Doctor smiles to think of what they accomplished with more time, yet another friend who left before the Doctor was ready.

Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart isn't located too far from that imbecile Harry Sullivan so the Doctor usually visits both at once, sharing old stories of their times together and even a few new ones. None of his former companions ever comment on the wetness of his eyes nor do they ever say much at all.

Sarah Jane was in Croydon enjoying a good rest after a lifetime of chasing after a daft old man. He would smile and remain quiet because his Sarah Jane didn't need him to fill up space with empty words. She understood him as he was and so he and his best friend would sit together in comfortable silence sometimes for hours at a time.

He saw Peri Brown a lot as well, he would talk sass and hope maybe one day he'd hear a response that would never come. He liked to think that she was happy where she was, in her new life amongst the stars with her warrior-king husband. The delusion would never be kept up for long as he would remember where Peri really was. He instead would leave her with more flowers and maybe even a cat broach to remind her of a Doctor long gone. Just like her.

It's easy for him to visit Astrid Peth, the almost, should-have-been companion. All he has to do is open the doors of his TARDIS somewhere in deep space and watch the stars floating by. It's not falling Astrid, he'll remind her gently as he closes the doors once more, it's flying.

He visited the Ponds, his family, quite often. He always made sure that their little place in Queens was clean. Rory had always been a bit of a neat freak after all and that probably didn't change after they left. He leaves little gifts that continued to pile up but it didn't matter. It almost causes him to smirk to think of the odd look the grave must receive with a package of fish fingers and custard stacked lovingly in front of it. But now wasn't the time for that, he thought drearily as he ran his fingers down the stone carvings of their names.

He probably should visit River more but seeing as the entire planet was infested with man-eating shadows it proved quite difficult. So he visited her in other ways, going back to places where they had been happy and sitting there trying to remember the feel of her in his arms. If he was truly desperate, sometimes he sought the company of a past version of his wife but he did that less and less now that Rory and Amy were… no longer traveling with him. At some point he just couldn't bear the heartache anymore.

The Doctor cares for his companions deeply and he keeps them in hearts long after they leave always doing his best to remember to visit every now and again. The moment he hears of their passing he would immediately fly his TARDIS their way armed with flowers and more than a few apologies for his dear friends. One must wonder why the Doctor would wait until it was too late to see his beloved children of time but perhaps it is presumptuous of us humans to try and guess the hearts and mind of a terribly old and sad Time Lord.

So let it not be said that the Doctor never visits his companions once they leave him. He is, in fact a very frequent visitor to all of them. And who knows, maybe one day he'll get up the nerve to whisper his words of love, affection and admiration to his companions' faces and not to their graves.


Thought it was time to throw another sad one your way. I'm rather fond of this story because it starts out so nice for those who are intimately familiar with Classic dead Doctor Who companions (Katrina and Sara being fairly unknown having been introduced and killed in the same story The Daleks' Master Plan) but as it goes on you slowly reason that his visits aren't so innocent. I wonder how far you got before you realized something was up... Also I know Sarah Jane's death isn't technically canon in series (they better acknowledge it like they did the Brigadier!) but I couldn't well leave her out. Also before people start angry texts that I left people out, I'm just trying to count main companions/people asked to be companions who have died (which is why Harriet Jones or Rita aren't included). I'm not saying I didn't miss anyone, just I gave careful consideration as to who I included and excluded. Reviews are nice, it's been a hectic, rough and altogether stressful week. How about it Suzi?