N.B. This is set after Amy has actually left the Tardis and relates more closely to Mark of a Time Traveller than All of Time and Space did.

In memory of Elizabeth Sladen.

We're All Just Stories in the End

In all her years of travelling with the Doctor (although she accepted that she would never know precisely how long she had stayed) Amy Pond saw the mark of the Tardis on five people other than the Doctor and herself. At first Amy was jealous of the familiarity between the Doctor and his previous companions because he was supposed to be hers for now, this was her time and she would be damned if she didn't make the most of it. But over time Amy came to realise that every person was special in their own unique way, every person had a different story, and (perhaps most importantly) a different relationship with the Time Lord.

X

Jack Harkness was the Doctor's equal.

But Jack Harkness, or rather Captain Jack Harkness, was the only companion she would describe as the Doctor's equal. The flirty, admittedly handsome, man was the third of the Doctor's previous travelling pals that Amy actually met during her own time aboard the Tardis.

"Why hello there." Jack introduced himself with a smile, raised eyebrows and a kiss on the hand. Or rather, he did until the Doctor and Rory collectively ruined the fun.

"Jack, no."

"I'm her husband."

Jack stuck around for a while but it quickly became clear that he and the Doctor had too much in common to actually feel comfortable around each other. In the end Jack chose to leave but not before Amy got a glimpse of the mark of the Tardis curling around his wrist beneath his vortex manipulator.

Jack saw the glance and gave her a knowing smile before vanishing in a puff of vortex energy.

X

Wilfred Mott was the Doctor's father-figure.

Whilst Wilfred Mott wasn't, by Amy's standards, technically a companion he certainly made an impression so Amy counted him as the second acquaintance of the Doctor that she had met.

Actually the whole meeting was a bit of an accident but the Doctor muttered something about there still being a specific link between Wilfred Mott and himself, even though it should no longer exist. But it just so happened that Wilfred was frequenting the very coffee shop that the Doctor had discovered an alien signal coming from, although it turned out to be a bit of space junk.

"How about a cuppa then?" Wilfred asked when the Doctor turned to leave far too soon for his liking, "for old time's sake?" Wilfred did after all take it upon himself to look after the alien because he understood that sometimes the Doctor needed to know someone was there for him. That and the fact that he wanted to ask more about the face change.

However when he handed the Doctor's tea over, white one sugar as always, the Doctor nearly dropped it.

"Wilfred, what's that on your hand?" Wilfred glanced down at the small black swirling mark that had appeared on his left hand just after the previous Doctor had left with a shrug but let the Doctor examine it nonetheless.

"It just appeared and it won't come off." Wilfred trailed off when he noticed the shimmer in the Doctor's eyes, "Hey lad, are you alright?"

"She marked you." The Doctor's voice was quiet and shaky.

"Sorry?"

"The Tardis, she marked you as her own." Wilfred left both confused and overwhelmed but before he could say anything the Doctor spoke again, urgent and frightened.

"When we last met you said you'd be proud to be my dad. Do you still hold to that?" In that moment Wilf saw years of insecurity and sadness and knew the answer before he even had to think about it.

"Of course son." Amy's mouth dropped open.

With an emotional smile the Doctor released him, sat and sipped at his tea, smiling slightly when he realised Wilf had even remembered his preference. Slowly, cautiously Amy sat opposite Wilf, next to the Doctor and gazed at the old man with a new admiration as they waited for the Doctor to regain control.

"So Wilfred Mott, how's Donna?"

As the afternoon progressed the mark became but a distant memory but later Amy would think back and call Wilfred Mott family.

X

Martha Smith (nee Jones) was the Doctor's failure.

Amy met Martha when the Doctor got called to assist U.N.I.T with a runaway alien. Martha was the fifth and final previous companion, funny, kind, haunted and broken all at once.

The Doctor spotted her mark straight away, dark against dark skin it should have been harder to spot but the Doctor had been looking for it and it was there, wrapping around a delicate ankle.

Later the Doctor would say that the Tardis had recognised love, hope and potential where he had crushed it out of bitterness. The Doctor knew he had failed Martha Jones.

Amy would remember Martha saying quietly to her "I was never enough for him," and relate it to how she treated Rory to make sure she never made the same mistake.

X

River Song was the Doctor's wife.

Well, sort of, it depends where River is in her timeline compared to where the Doctor is in his but they were never going to be a conventional couple.

River Song is also the first person other than the Doctor that Amy sees marked by the Tardis. It mirrors the Doctor's perfectly curling beautiful and strong over her shoulder, reflecting how they were always meant to be together.

River's is also the only person who has no mark and the start of her life and no mark and the end because as the Doctor knows her less her mark fades away. Amy thinks it must the worst thing in the world, having a reminder that one day your husband won't know you at all.

Until then it "hello sweetie's" and "spoilers" and stolen moments and stolen kisses. Amy knows that River, her daughter, has many more adventure with the Doctor once Amy's gone, whisked away from Stormcage in the dead of night.

Despite knowing this Amy always wonders if they ever got to go on a honeymoon. She then spends days trying to forget that that particular thought ever began.

X

Sarah-Jane Smith was the Doctor's closest friend.

Sarah-Jane is not only the first but also the only previous companion that Amy meets without really meeting. The phone call had come late and night and was quite clearly unexpected because when Amy went to find out who was ringing that late at night she was beaten to the phone by and equally bleary-eyed, pyjama-bottom-clad Doctor.

"Hello?"

The Doctor suddenly went very still and very, very white. Amy was so concerned that she actually ran over, took the Doctor gently by the arm and sat him on the chair because he looked like he would fall if she didn't.

"When?"

The Doctor's voice cracks halfway through the word and Amy sees unshed tears building in his eyes. She wants to shout at whoever was making the Doctor cry and tell them to stop, but before she could the Doctor regained some coherence.

"Of course I'll be there, what time? Yes, I, I just, sorry."

The phone falls from his nerveless grasp and without another word he curled into Amy's shoulder and cried. Amy knew better than to ask.

The following morning Amy attended the funeral of Sarah-Jane Smith. The Doctor just about managed to keep his composure through the ceremony but when the majority had left and only Amy, Luke and K9 were left the Doctor broke.

"There was never anyone like Sarah-Jane. She's the only friend I've ever had that the Tardis marked the moment they entered, right in the middle of her back. Even the old girl knew what we would achieve together. How could she leave me like this?"

The Doctor mourned. Amy mourned that she never knew someone who could reduce the Time Lord to this because they must have been extraordinary.

To help him feel better she makes fish fingers and custard for breakfast the next morning. When he gives her a watery smile and slowly makes his way through over half the plate she knows he'll be ok.

X

Rory Williams was the Doctor's father-in-law and Amy was annoyed that his mark was stronger than hers, curling gently around his upper arm. Amy would also deny that she loved every inch of it.

Amelia Pond was the Doctor's mother-in-law.

But if anyone asked her how she would describe her relationship with the man she usually stuck to "it's complicated" and hoped for the best. Really, what do you say when a rather attractive man nine hundred years older than you undresses in front of you the first time you meet and is then completely oblivious when you consequently come onto him after a near death experience, jumps between buddy, boyfriend and father material daily and later marries your daughter?

Although frankly Amy can't wait for the day when someone asks and "it's complicated" isn't enough because she'll always believe that of all the stories, hers is the best.

X

Fin.