A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who read the most recent chapter! I didn't expect 400+ views in one day. Thanks so much. :D Anywho, my family and I are moving next week so I won't have internet for at least that long starting Monday. I'll get as much done as I can so hopefully by the time next weekend rolls around in March, I'll have more to share with you.

Please let me know what you think about the original adventures and if you want to see one more before "Father's Day" or just go to that episode? I have loads of fun planned before the end of this book, which, sadly, is closer than you might think. Soon we'll have to say goodbye to Nine. Enjoy the ride in the meantime.

My Own Little Adventure

Part Four

I snapped awake from the deepest sleep I'd ever had. Not a gradual waking up and back to consciousness like I'd seen in the movies a thousand times, but one moment I'd been dead to the world and the next, as awake as if I'd been up for a long time. I didn't even feel disoriented seeing the log-cabin-like roof of my room overhead.

No, I realized with a sigh, rubbing my face vigorously. I remembered everything from that room. Even that memory. At least the Doctor hadn't been mean enough to hide that from me, though I wouldn't blame him if he had. Seeing such a private moment that probably had torn him up on the inside without his permission probably wasn't the best way to earn his trust. My eyes stung as flashes of emotion from that memory passed my mind's eye. Whoever this Em was, leaving the Doctor behind like that…I didn't need to be a professional empath or psychologist to know that it had been the hardest thing she had to do.

A whiff of something delicious drug my mind out of that gradual spiral downwards. I looked at the nightstand next to my bed and grinned, feeling my heart and chest warm. A fresh, steaming, mega-sized mug of what smelled like my favorite latte waited for me. I hadn't told the Doctor that caramel flavored anything was my favorite. Had he smelled that every time I had coffee near him, or had he actually been paying attention to me and just guessed? The last one had me shaking my head as I swallowed a generous mouthful. I liked to think that the Doctor and I were friends, but with his temperament and unwillingness for close contact, I doubted he would pay that much attention to a single person that way. Enough to guess what their favorite drinks were, anyway. Most likely the TARDIS had given him a major "hint" and had place my coffee next to his in the kitchen. Yes, that sounded more like the Doctor I'd grown familiar with.

I didn't know what I'd do if he actually tried to find my favorite thing on his own accord. Die of shock, more like, then wonder why I was so special.

I almost stepped out my door into the rest of the TARDIS when that musical instrument from Statten's caught my eye. Either the TARDIS placed it on the bookcase nearby or I'd done it and not remembered. In any case, I quickly tucked that into my pocket. The first bit of alien tech that I could technically call my own. A piece of comfort. My mind felt fragile, like the slightest amount of emotion would be too much. I doubted that the Doctor would leave me that vulnerable, but just like someone who'd stayed in the hospital too long, I wasn't eager to push my luck. I met nobody in the very short walk to the console room. Maybe a dozen and change steps and a corner and I found myself in it's comforting light.

"Thanks, girl," I murmured, feeling the TARDIS around me hum in approval. Like a mother tiger purring against my senses. Even the floor didn't feel as cold beneath my bare feet like I thought it would. I ran a hand across the rim of the console, a smile on my face. "I know you didn't mean to hurt me. You see all of time and space so you have to know things about me that I don't yet. So…" I trailed off, a little embarrassed at talking to a ship that I could only understand through vague emotions half the time. "So I guess I'm trying to say is I'm not mad at you or anything. I just wish I could get straight answers about me once in a while instead of all this convoluted time travel thing-a-ma-jig. You know?"

Though I didn't get an obvious mental answer like when we'd set off the chain reaction that got me into that memory room in the first place, the TARDIS did dim her lights a bit and a strong wave of…well, I hesitated to call it fondness, but it didn't feel like anything else. The TARDIS probably did nothing without a reason, but it baffled me that she felt and reacted this strongly to me at all.

Almost on automatic, I wandered over to her doors and opened them wide. An enormous, multi-colored nebula danced in space, seeming to stretch forever in all directions. It took my breath away as I perched on her doorstep without fear of falling off. Four long sips of coffee did nothing to help me wrap my head around what I'd seen, so I reached into my pocket and dug out that little device. I turned it over a little, remembering at how it had brought such a look of peace to the Doctor's face with so little effort. If only he would have those moments more often. Didn't the universe owe him that much? My fingers stilled as I tried to get those notes to come out just right. I managed to get something the first try. More notes came after, but I didn't have any set song in mind. Just the sound of those small notes helped my mind to stop spinning out of control.

"You're getting better at that."

It showed how drained my emotions had become that I didn't even flinch at the Doctor's sudden appearance behind me. Letting the last note trail off into silence, I put it back in my pocket with a shrug. "I'm not really doing much. Just tinkering, I guess. Never touched an instrument till now, actually."

"Didn't sound like it."

Though my blush exploded into existence—bringing a keen shyness that I hadn't felt with the Doctor before—I managed a smile and a shake of my head. "Doctor, I won't fall apart if you be yourself and admit that my playing is awful," I chuckled, wrapping my hands around my coffee mug and taking a deep breath again. "Plus you're being nice. That means I'm dying, you want something, or you're more worried about me than you should be."

While it didn't sound like an actual laugh, the rush of air that came out of the Doctor's lungs made me think he tried to laugh but just ended up smiling instead. Though I'd rarely seen him smile with anything but a mask or out of mischief. A waft of his very not-meant-for-human-consumption coffee brought my head around as he awkwardly joined me on the other side of the doorway.

A doorway that appeared twice as large as it used to be, otherwise we would be pressed against each other in quite the uncomfortable fashion.

Crazy man just dangled his legs into space without a care in the world; I'd only gotten the nerve to do one. He stared at the nebula for a while even with worry lines at the corners of his eyes and a frown digging deep into his forehead. Probably trying to decide what to say to me. I let him, since he didn't seem one for thought out conversations in the first place. More like he'd gotten used to blurting out whatever came to mind.

After several minutes, however, I knew I had to just break the silence with something. Anything to prod something out of him.

"This coffee is…."

"Do you remember…."

We both stared at each other with different degrees of surprise. I'd call our talking at the same time a coincidence, but since he'd been in my head the night before for who knows how long….

I sniggered and shrugged. "Sorry. You first."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow. He paused for a moment with a quirk in his lips that seemed like he would respond with something sarcastic as usual. Instead, he waited for a moment or so longer, thinking about what he would say. Like he doubted whether he should or not say something in the first place. Eventually he had the "what-the-hell" face and sighed, head bowing down under some weight. "Do you remember what the TARDIS showed you? Anything at all?"

Of course I remembered. It was trying not to think about it that bothered me. I didn't admit that quite yet, focusing all of my attention on him, even putting my coffee down behind me. "You were in my head…I think. Wouldn't you have seen what I did?" The thousand and one questions that I wanted to ask him started burning away at my tongue, but I held them back. With the Doctor, I had to take it slow, gage his reactions before I chose my next questions.

"Not if the TARDIS didn't want me to." The Doctor's face soured, but a warm fondness leaked out of him regardless of the expression. "The old girl and I might have been traveling together for a while, but she still has places I haven't seen. Or she won't let me see. Hard to tell which sometimes when she's being annoying."

I snorted a bit, letting myself smile at the annoyance in the Doctor's own voice. "Well, if you stop yelling at her, maybe she'll start to respond to you better. Honestly, you two are like an old married couple."

"Oi, watch the mouth. You'll insult the TARDIS." Though the Doctor tried to retort in his usual fashion, there just wasn't enough life in it to make it convincing. "No, I was too focused on pulling you out of there to see anything, even if the TARDIS wanted me to in the first place."

"Right. Well…." I hesitated, trying to keep myself from blurting everything out the way I wanted to. I had to be very delicate, sensitive to whatever buttons I might accidentally push on him. If he took what I said the wrong way, I'd have to back off very quickly. "Um…the problem is, I don't…I don't think it's something you want to remember." There, feel him out. I wanted to tell him so much, but he'd already been damaged by memories I couldn't even begin to guess at. It would be heartless of me to reopen old wounds without knowing he wanted them opened. "It probably isn't one of your best memories. At least, I think it was one of yours, but I didn't 'see' it as you." Great, now I babbled. I pressed my lips together and focused on the slowly withdrawing Time Lord next to me.

At the warning, the crack in his mental armor started to close. A reaction, perhaps, in anticipation of a blow. A steely look entered the Doctor's eyes as he shifted his position to stare at me. Oh, he'd heard the warning, all right, but his stubbornness refused to back away. "Jessica, it's my fault for not stopping you from entering that place fast enough. Any normal human would be harassing me for answers, but you…." He made a face, a mix of disapproval, sarcasm, and worry. "You're too quiet. Thinking too much."

"I'm fine, Doctor, really."

"For once, will you shut it and do what I'm asking?" The Doctor almost snapped, reigning in his temper with an effort both physically and mentally. I could feel the pace-inducing, tart flavored worry that bled from him without any effort. "I might have fixed the damage I did to your barriers but I still need to know if there's anything that I might have missed. Whatever it is, I can handle it."

My eyes burned at the earnest and stark caring that had made its way to the surface. It didn't seem forced, like he felt like it was expected of him and he didn't truly care. I didn't want to bring memories crashing down on him, but when he looked at me like that….

"Jessica, please. Trust me."

Swallowing the knot that rose up to block my throat, I nodded and took a deep breath. I clenched my hands together to keep them from potentially shaking. The Doctor wouldn't offer any comfort; it wasn't in his character. I had to tough it out like he did, pretending that it didn't affect me half as much as it really did. "I think you heard me say something about someone being hurt…or dying. I don't remember much before being pulled in. You were in the memory, but I couldn't see your face, just…I felt things like I was her for a bit. Experiencing her emotions like they were mine." Biting my lip, I debated on how I was going to phrase what happened next, then decided that there was no good way to say it besides just blurting it out. "Doctor…she'd been shot, I think, and she was dying. You called her Em."