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The First Raggedy Man.

Amelia Pond knew the Magic Doctor existed, really existed even if nobody believed her; Mels didn't really count considering the amount of trouble she always got into, and while Rory always stuck with her she always knew he was more than a little sceptical, but what he really thought she honestly didn't know, and she stuck to her opinion for a long time.

Well, now, Amy Pond, aged 15 was trying to put that behind her while she tried to enjoy her day out in London. It was nothing like Leadworth, which was a bonus, and while she wasn't anywhere near her negligent aunt - just because she had come to enjoy the freedom of not having Aunt Sharon around much, it would have done Amy some good to have the woman nearby occasionally as someone to confide in, an older member of her family to speak to - for the moment, Amy had time to enjoy the sights.

Walking through London was certainly enjoyable; sure, she knew it would be pathetically easy for her to get herself lost since she had never really visited the place before, but it was enjoyable. Amy could certainly see herself moving from that damn village, and moving here. There was much more life here without herself getting bored like she was in Leadworth.

There were more people here. She could go shopping, clubbing, and there were dozens of opportunities for a job.

But even better was the fact she was not known in London, which meant no-body here knew about her "issues," and in a small village like Leadworth, that meant everybody knew about her issues.

She had always hated that about the British village as much as she had always hated and resented the fact she had left Scotland to live in said British village which was still rubbish like she had told the Raggedy Doctor, regardless of how many times she had been told he didn't exist even though the proof of the smashed garden shed should have told anyone with a brain cell in their head something had crashed into it, but what Amy had always hated about Leadworth was that since the village was so small, there was very little privacy.

Alright, granted, she knew she hadn't made things easy for herself. She had never been able to just dismiss the Doctor's existence, even if Mels' never-ending enthusiasm made everyone think her story was something out of Harry Potter. Amy grimaced at the thought of her friend and the amount of trouble she had gotten into over the years, but what made it worse was with each excuse that came out of Mel's mouth, about how it was the Doctor's fault, like that lesson in school where she'd blamed him for the sinking of the Titanic, or that lesson where the Doctor had messed up her chemistry work, it made Amy look like an idiot, and it had made her truly regret telling Mels and Rory about that night.

But how could she have just dismissed him?

A man wearing the tattered remains of a suit which looked like it had been through a war arriving in a blue box the Doctor had called a time machine - something Amy was really sceptical about, especially since he had said he would be gone only five minutes, but he hadn't come back; surely if he had a time machine he would return instead of leaving her behind like that? - eating and spitting out a weird menu of food before he'd settled for fish fingers and custard.

Amy shook her head irritably, and she smiled as she found herself looking up at Nelson's column in Trafalgar square, ignoring the thought of what Mels' would say about the figure whom she only had a vague knowledge of, and she sat down near the fountain, sitting at an angle while she had her left leg draped over her right, looking into the gently rippling water.

"Susan, where are you, child?"

Amy looked up when she heard the reedy although still strong voice, and she found herself looking at an elderly looking man walking near her way, wearing a dark frock coat over black trousers, which made him resemble a figure out of a Victorian novel. Idly Amy wondered who this Susan was, and she decided it made little difference to her. She looked away, but she became aware of someone sitting next to her. Amy turned and she found herself sitting next to the old man. He looked tired, but she could see he was stubbornly trying to not appear tired. She had seen this with many older people before; Leadworth was full of them, and although Amy rarely had anything to do with them didn't mean she wasn't unaware of them.

"Are you okay?" she asked him. The old man turned to her in slight surprise, clearly surprised to find her there and she wondered when she had turned invisible. "Hmm? Oh, yes, my dear. I am…alright," he said breathlessly.

Amy smiled back, but as she looked at the old man she couldn't help but feel, and she would never be able to work out why comforted at the same time. Almost as though she knew him…

"Are you visiting the city as well?" she asked; she was curious about why this man seemed both comfortingly familiar even though she was positive she had never met this man before in her life, and she would certainly remember a man wearing that outfit.

"Yes, indeed, indeed, my dear girl," the old man said with a smile although there was something about his manner which told Amy, as she spent more time with him, that he was itching to get away from her and was only being friendly out of some kind of courtesy. As much as it offended her in theory, Amy wasn't bothered in practice. After all, it wasn't as if she knew this old man at all, was it? "I am just trying to find my granddaughter; we have been to London before, you see, back in 19-er, two years ago," he stumbled a little bit, "and she is just interested in seeing what has changed."

Amy frowned a little, wondering how much of the city could change in just two years, but she decided not to say anything about it. "Are you a tourist?" she asked curiously, although she could tell from his accent he was British himself.

"Mmm?" the old man turned to her curiously before he pulled himself up in realisation when he realised what she'd just said. "Oh, yes, my dear. We are tourists, well more technically we're travellers."

"Where have you been to?" Amy asked curiously, leaning forward.

"Oh, we have been to China, Japan, America….mm, oh, yes, we have also visited Mexico," the old man answered, looking thoughtful as he seemed to be dredging through his memory which was clearly sketchy, but at the same time, Amy got the impression the man was deliberately not trying to say much although it looked like he wanted to say more but was being guarded for some reason.

"What did you see in those places?" Amy asked, deciding to play this man's game.

The old man was about to answer when a thin black-haired girl rushed over. She was wearing a simple white shirt and black trousers. "There you are, Grandfather," she said, glancing curiously at Amy but she didn't say a word. The redhead was curious about that, and she couldn't help but wonder just how much interest this girl had; if she was fascinated about changes in London after a couple of years and yet not really say anything about her grandfather speaking to a total stranger, then was she interested in anything at all? Sure, Amy couldn't deny this Susan was waiting for a chance to speak to her grandfather in private, but at the same time she wondered if the girl who appeared close to her own age was curious over different things and indifferent when looking at others.

The old man looked happy when he saw his granddaughter. His entire face seemed to brighten up just at the sight of her. Amy smiled at his reaction; there was just something so nice about it that she couldn't help but smile.

"Ah, there you are, my dear," the old man said to the girl before he heaved himself to his feet. He was about to walk away, but he then turned to Amy.

"It was lovely speaking to you, my dear, but we must leave now," the old man said before he walked off. Amy watched as he and his granddaughter walked away until they disappeared into the crowd before she turned the discussion over in her mind. It hadn't been much of a discussion since they hadn't really had the time to have an in-depth discussion, and she hadn't really told him about herself, although she would have been fairly guarded about what she'd tell him; she wasn't going to tell people about the Raggedy Magic Doctor. She had learnt from her mistakes even if she refused to give in to the temptation to agree with those psychiatrists her aunt had hired to get her to see the Doctor was just a figment of her imagination with Mels' constantly using the Doctor as an excuse.

It was then she realised she didn't even know the old man's name.

XXX

A few years later, Amy was sitting in the small but incredibly comfortable chair in the TARDIS console room - she wondered why modern cars since it was obvious to her this was an old car seat were no longer as comfortable - watching idly as the TARDIS flicked through the memory bank of past companions. It had been a surprise to her the Doctor had companions before her, and Amy still wasn't entirely sure what she felt about that aside from jealously although it made sense given how old the Doctor was that he'd had travelled with a few, and aside from his social awkwardness and general weirdness, he was good with people to a point.

It had taken Amy a while to persuade the Doctor to let her see the faces of his past companions and people who'd travelled with him in general, but now that she was fixed on Rory and was no longer trying to pursue the Time Lord, the Doctor had allowed her to see the file while Rory explored the TARDIS and the Doctor was off doing Time Lord stuff. Amy wasn't bothered about being alone, but after the mind-numbing hell of the Dream Lord, Amy found herself valuing her privacy and solitude.

Amy was about to close the file when she saw a familiar face in the screen and her mouth dropped in surprise.

Susan had been a companion of the Doctor?

Amy jumped up and she rushed from the console room. "Doctor! I didn't know you knew Susan as well!" she yelled.