[In the life of the Doctor there are good days, and there are bad days. Sometimes, when he's feeling down, the TARDIS (who has a very long memory), takes over the viewscreen and reminds him of the good days.]
Three figures stood around the console, not talking. One of them, currently operating two small keypads on the console, was dressed in a form-fitting silver jumpsuit. This was not as revealing as it might sound, for aside from its colour the outfit was rather utilitarian. She was, however, rather pretty, thought the young highlander. He was wearing a plain black shirt and a kilt, patterned in his family colours.
"There!" the girl said, as a chime sounded. She looked up from her work with a triumphant smile on her face.
"Oh, well done, Zoe!" the third figure said, applauding. A diminutive man in a rather scrappy and oversized suit, he looked like a better class of tramp, but his friends knew he was no vagabond. "You did it! Oh, I knew you could,"
"Ah, it did ne look so hard," the Scotsman said. "I could've done that."
Zoe stuck her tongue out at him. "I'd like to see you try, Jaime," she said. "In order to establish a temporal orbit, you've got to track to complex phasing equations in your head simultaneously and line them up using a quantum variable substitution at exactly the right moment."
Jamie, native to the 18th century, understood this not at all, and so subsided into silence. The only sounds were the thrum of the engines and "three blind mice," which was being played on a blue-striped recorder by the ragged man.
"Doctor," Jamie said eventually. "Do ye really not know what my face looks like?"
"What?!" The Doctor looked crossly over at Zoe, who blushed. "Sorry, Doctor. I didn't mean to tell him. We were comparing notes on what happened in the Fiction Universe and it…slipped out."
"It's alright, Zoe," the Doctor said kindly. "Yes, Jamie, it's true that, when the Master turned you into a picture, I put your face back together wrong."
"Doctor!" the boy said, looking hurt.
"However," the Doctor added quickly, "that's not because I don't know what you look like. I do, most of the time."
"Most of the time?" Zoe echoed. "How can you only remember something most the time?"
"Easily," the Doctor replied. "There are so many people in the universe, and when you've been around as long as I have, you remember more than a few faces. Sometimes they get…mixed up."
"But ye dinnae see them faces everyday, Doctor," Jamie argued. "Ye should know what your friends look like."
"Yes, well…" the Doctor said, looking embarrassed, "it's just that I don't always see you two the way you look."
"What do you mean, Doctor?" the young girl asked, looking confused.
The Doctor pocketed his recorder and smiled at his companions. "In my mind's eye," the Doctor began, "I see you not as you look, but as you are."
"Aye? And what's that supposed to mean?" Jamie said, clearly annoyed.
"I mean that I remember all the things about you that make you so important. Jamie, in my mind, I often see you as a great fiery pillar of stone, sitting in a pool of clear water. The pillar represents your resilience and strength and loyalty, and the water represents your kindness and bravery."
"And what about me, Doctor?" Zoe said eagerly.
The Doctor closed his eyes and considered. "I see you as a white raincloud, Zoe. The white represents your innocence, the cloud your intelligence, and the rain your compassion." He opened his eyes. "So, I hope you can forgive me for forgetting your face, Jamie," he concluded. "I was too worried about losing you to think about your outside details properly."
"Aye, I'll forgive ye, Doctor," Jamie said, smiling. "So, where to now?"
"I think we should take some time off now, really," the Doctor said, rubbing his hands together. "Go and fetch your bagpipes, Jamie. Let's have some fun." As the other ran to his quarters, the Doctor pulled his recorder from his pocket.
And they made the Time Vortex ring with music.