Goodbye Old Friend

"Doctor, are you sure about this?" Nardol was having second thoughts about their current endeavor.

"Sush!" The Doctor admonished before he carefully peered around the corner and down the next hallway.

They were currently somewhere deep in the basement of The Royal London Hospital trying to solve a mystery. A mystery Nardol was beginning to doubt.

"This seems very familiar."

The Doctor turned his head back around. "Why do you say that?"

"Remember that old movie we watched last week?"

Nardol could tell by the Doctor's blank stare that he didn't have a clue.

"The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, circa 1956 starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter."

The Doctor casually waved a hand at his head. "Deleted it."

"It's about aliens who invade earth by duplicating the humans."

The Doctor turned to face Nardol and placed his hands on his hips. "And?"

"And, that boy you spoke to in the quad. Who said his dad wasn't his dad."

"Yes?"

Nardol sighed. He still wasn't getting it. "Doctor, it was two in the morning and the boy was drunk and crying when he told you he thought his dad had been replaced."

"Mmmhuh." The Doctor nodded in agreement.

"So what on earth…other than that movie…would make you believe that what he said was true?"

"Chameleon," the Doctor retorted.

"Chameleon?"

"Yes, he said his father suddenly quit his job as chief of surgery at St. Andrews and started Chameleon Cosmetic Surgery here at this hospital."

"So? People change jobs everyday. It doesn't normally signal an alien invasion."

"If it wasn't for that one word I might have thought the same."

"Chameleon?"

"Yes, I ran into a group of…what did you call them? Body-snatchers? At Gatwick Airport, back in '66. They were running a racket called Chameleon Tours. Kidnapping plane loads of young people…using human DNA to repair their faceless, formless genetically damaged bodies. Becoming exact duplicates. That was…," he smirked. "Until I sent them packing."

"Thank you Doctor!"

The unexpected voice at his back caused the Doctor to jump and turn around. Nardol grabbed the Doctor's sleeve and pulled him further back from the intruder to their conversation. As the Doctor stumbled backwards he had some sharp words for Nardol.

"And you wonder why I keep shushing you!"

Nardol tried to defend himself…. "Well...if you'd fill me in beforehand…," but was cut off.

"Quiet!" They both watched as the man produced a cylindrical metal object from his pocket and pointed it at them."

"Laser pointer?" Nardol squeeked.

"Freeze ray," the Doctor replied.

"I was wondering who was on to me. I never expected it to be you. But here you are. And with a new face. What a hypocrite!"

Nardol winced as the Doctor took a step closer to the man and his gun. "I'm nothing of the sort! This is my own face; I regenerate. I don't go around stealing people's faces or their lives!"

"I do what I have too…to survive!"

"And you are?"

"You knew me as Spencer."

"Why are you still here? You should have left with the others?"

"I couldn't go back to that…that…nothing! No face, no emotion. No life! You left our equipment behind, so I stayed behind. Created a new Identity for myself…"

"Killed someone," the Doctor butted in.

"Then you should realize Doctor…I'm not averse to killing you!" He raised his gun higher and pressed the trigger.

Before he was hit by the beam, Doctor felt himself being pushed aside by Nardol, who took the blast to the center of his chest. He heard Nardol giggle, followed by… "Ooh…that tickles!"

The alien looked stunned. "What are you?"

"Now that's an interesting question?" Nardol replied before lunging at the man and knocking the freeze ray from his hand. He then made a grab for Spencer but he, or rather it, was off and running down the hallway.

"Here we go with the running again," Nardol commented as he caught the Doctor's eye. "Why is there always running?"

The Doctor smile back. "Not this time."

"Oh, why not?"

The Doctor held up his sonic. "He'll be heading to his duplicating machine and I know how it works. I can track the power signature."

"Nice!"

"Course…it doesn't mean we can have a relaxing stroll either. The boy said he noticed his father changed six days ago. The original will die seven days after the duplicating process, so we better get a move on."

Nardol's joy deflated. "Awww."

"Come on." The sonic began beeping and the Doctor set off down the hallway at a quick pace.

After a tedious trek back through the boiler room, up through the maintenance floor, and brief but annoying encounter with a security guard, the Doctor and Nardol found themselves in a ground floor elevator heading for the seventh floor. The Doctor glared at Nardol when he began humming along with the elevator music. Elevator music! One of the many levels of hell as far as the Doctor was concerned. Nardol winced under his gaze and stopped humming. As they exited onto the seventh floor, the beeping of the sonic screwdriver increased.

"He should be somewhere on this floor," the Doctor commented, switching off the device. "You take the left, I'll take the right." He set off down the hallway opening doors and peering inside. Nardol followed his lead.

About halfway down the hallway, Nardol noticed the Doctor was no longer keeping up with him. Looking back he saw the Doctor standing outside a doorway looking inside. Nardol turned back and approached the Doctor, whispering as he came up beside him. "Did you locate him?"

The Doctor didn't reply. He just kept on standing there staring into the room. Nardol looked in expecting to see Spencer. What he saw instead was an old man lying in a hospital bed.

"Doctor?" Nardol looked up at the Time Lord expectedly. He received no response, no acknowledgement that he was even there. He tugged at the Doctor's sleeve. "Doctor, we're looking for the body snatcher, remember?"

He still didn't reply right away. He just reached into his back pocket, pulled out his sonic and shoved it at Nardol. "Here."

Ooh, this is a bad sign! Nardol thought as he accepted the screwdriver. "Doctor, I don't think…"

"Nonsense." Without looking, the Doctor put his hand on Nardol's shoulder and gave him a push down the hallway. "You can handle it. I've got something more important to do."

Nardol stopped, questioning the Doctor. "What's more important than stopping an alien body snatcher?"

"Closure." The Doctor said; his focus still intently fixed on the man lying in the bed.

The Doctor had been making cursory glances into each room before proceeding on to the next. And as he searched, he was thinking how he really should link his sonic to his smart phone to use it as a more precise GPS locator, would have saved him from all the tedious searching. He was well into multitasking, looking and thinking about the design modifications necessary to reconfigure his sonic when he opened a door and received such a shock that it had him grasping the doorframe to steady his self.

It can't be!

As he stared at the man in the bed, something Marcus Aurelius once told him popped into his head.

"Accept the things to which fate binds you…"

Nardol's arrival at his side interrupted the thought. It annoyed him, so he shoved his sonic screwdriver at the cyborg and sent him off to deal with whatever it was they were doing. He'd forgotten. Something more important now had his attention.

Good or bad, fate was the one thing he had no control over throughout his life and he sighed wearily as he entered the room. He's done this once before, so long ago, and yet…it seemed like yesterday. It tore at his hearts. He considered this man family, his second father.

The Doctor felt and errant tear dampening his face as looked down at the frail body of his old friend, Wilfred Mott. Wilfred's eyes were closed and he was connected to an array of life prolonging tubes and wires. He looked like he was sleeping, but the Doctor knew he wasn't. Not like this! The Doctor thought, as he wiped the tear away. River was right. I don't like endings!

He stepped closer to the head of the bed and lightly touched the back of his hand to Wilfred's cheek. And then, for the second time in one day, he was startled by another loud voice.

"Can I help you?"

When he looked up, his hand went to his chest as his heart's really did skip a beat. It was Donna!

She stepped forward. "You alright?"

The Doctor gripped the bed rail to steady himself. "Yes, of course…why wouldn't I be?

Donna shifted a small child she was carrying from her left hip to her right. "Dunno. You looked like you was gonna' faint or somethin'."

"No…no, I'm fine. You just startled me; that's all."

"You one of granddads friends?"

"Yesss. We…we served together." Not a total lie, he thought.

"Really? I've never met anyone from his regiment before."

The Doctor held out his hand. "Name's John Smith. And you're his granddaughter?

They shook hands. "Yes. I'm Donna."

The Doctor couldn't help but smile as he looked at the curly haired little girl eying him. "And who's this beautiful ginger?" He asked, as he tried to tickle the girl's tummy. Fearful and shy the little girl turned away.

"This one's called Ella. Say hello to Granddads friend Ell." Ella turned her head back slightly and mumbled a quiet, "Hello."

"If only she was this quiet at home," Donna teased.

The Doctor grinned. "Just like her mom."

"What?"

Oops! "Sorry…I didn't mean…I was just…"

Donna smiled and waved a dismissive a hand at him.. "Oh, it's alright. Apple don't fall from the tree, as they say."

He smiled back. "They do say that."

Donna made a half step towards the door. "Well...we'll come back later. I'll let you visit with granddad for a while."

The Doctor tried to follow her out. "That's ok. I didn't mean to intrude."

Donna put her hand on his arm to stop him. "No, it's alright. I was just looking in on him for a sec. My husband and son are downstairs in the caf. I'll be back later, so go ahead. Take your time."

"Thank you," he replied sincerely. "And I must say…it was a pleasure to meet both of you."

"Nice meeting you too. Wave goodbye to the nice man Ell."

When little girl waved and said "Bye", he felt his hearts break just a little more.

After Donna and her daughter had gone, the Doctor pulled a chair from the corner of the room and sat down at Wilfred's bedside. "Time to say goodbye," he whispered. He leaned forward and lightly placed his fingers against Wilfred's temples. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Creating a psychic link would take absolute focus. He began by mentally calling out to him, repeating his name over and over in an effort to reach Wilfred's sub- consciousness.

"Wilfred...Wilfred...Wilfred...Wilfred…"

It took a while, but he finally heard a distant voice replying in the darkness. "Hello?"

"Wilfred!" He mentally yelled.

"Hello?" The voice was more distinct this time. "Who's there?"

"Wilfred, I need you to follow the sound of my voice!"

"Who are you?"

"I'm a friend. Keep coming towards my voice!"

"It's so dark! Where am I?"

I'll explain, keep moving this way!"

Within Wilfred's mind the Doctor could see a form beginning to take shape.

"That's it! You're almost there!"

The Doctor heard him call back in frustration. "Where?"

To help, the Doctor recreated his own form in Wilfred's mind and reached out to grab hold of Wilfred's shadowy self-image. "Right here." As he touched the image, a dark haired man with strong features appeared before him. The Doctor couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny?" Wilfred's younger image asked.

"You. You look so young!"

"What are you talking about? And just who are you!"

"Wilfred, it's me…the Doctor!"

"The Doctor? You're not Dr. Jalbani."

"No, no…not your physician…I'm The Doctor!"

Wilfred shook his head. "I'm sorry, but you sir are not the Doctor.

The Doctor realized he was projecting the mental image of his current regeneration. "Hang on…I'll prove it." He mentally focused on projecting the image of his 10th incarnation. His image shimmered…then changed.

"Whoa! Doctor, it's you!" Wilfred leapt forward and tried to embrace the Doctor but passed right through his image instead. He turned back, confused. "Hey! What's going on?"

"We're projections Wilfred. Mental projections in your mind. I'm in your head."

Wilfred grabbed his head. "I feel real enough."

"That's because our life is the creation of our mind, you feel real because you believe yourself to be real.

Wilfred still had hold of his head. "Now you're makin' my head hurt."

"Let's have a seat. It'll help you understand." Seconds later the Doctor's favorite wingback chair from the Tardis materialized out of nowhere and he took a seat.

Wilfred's eyes went wide. "How'd you do that?"

"It's easy. You can do it too. I'll help you. Think about your favorite chair back home. Think about the size and shape of it. Think about the fabric and about how good it would feel to be sitting in it right now."

He looked skeptical so the Doctor helped him. "Describe it to me."

"Well…it's a brown kinda boxy shaped recliner."

Nothing appeared. "What else?" The Doctor prompted.

"Well Sylvia crocheted me a colorful headrest for it."

"And?"

"Aaaand…It's got a hole on the footrest, with some of the stuffin comin' out…and there's a coffee stain on one of the armrest."

The Doctor motioned behind Wilfred. "Have a seat."

"Wha…?" He glanced around and discovered his chair sitting behind him.

"Would you look at that! It's my chair!" He sat down. "It even feels like my chair." The Doctor smiled and watched as Wilfred levered out the footrest and reclined back. "So why are you in my head Doctor?"

"Well…what's the last thing you remember?"

"Hmm…lets see? I remember I was watching a match on the telly and I was yelling at the ref for givin' out a red card…oh, oh! I remember I felt bad all of a sudden. My arm hurt, and my chest…"

The Doctor saw to look on Wilfred's face change. He sat bolt upright, shoving in the footrest as he did, he looked scared. "Am I dead? He asked.

"No Wilfred. You're not dead. You're in a coma."

"A coma?"

Yes. I believe you've suffered a massive heart attack. You're body is on life support."

Wilfred looked scared again. "Oh my."

The Doctor didn't comment. He just waited for all he's told Wilfred to really sink in.

"Are you here to help me?" He finally asked the Doctor.

The Doctor broke eye contact and looked down at his hands.

In the ensuing awkward silence, Wilfred realized this was the Doctor's way of saying no.

"That's ok Doctor. Saving me once is more than enough."

He looked up sadly at Wilfred. "It's not that I don't want to, I do. But you are the biggest fixed point I've encountered in my lives and I don't think I can tempt fate twice."

Wilfred eyebrows shot up. "Biggest, huh?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Woo!" He smiled at the Doctor. "That's something!"

The Doctor smiled back at Wilfred's upbeat demeanor and wished he had more to offer. He could only change the subject. "I met Donna."

Wilfred was alarmed. "She saw you? Is she alright?"

"She's ok, don't worry. She didn't recognize me."

"That other face…that man. That was you?"

"This one." The Doctor changed back to his 12th incarnation.

"So, you changed after all."

"More than once." The Doctor commented.

"How long has it been? You know…since I last saw you?"

"For you…about seven years, for me…about five hundred. Or was it five billion? He snickered. "I keep losing track."

"Blimey!" He shook his head in disbelief. "Your new face suites you though."

"Does it?" He rubbed his jaw. "I always thought it seemed a bit cross to me."

"More mature." Wilfred complimented.

The Doctor smiled. "It is that."

The conversation lulled for a moment before Wilfred broke the silence. "So why are you here, Doctor? In my head?"

"Serendipity, Wilfred. Fate keeps bringing us together."

"Another alien invasion then?"

The corner of the Doctors mouth crept up into a smile as he thought about their past meetings. "Well, there is an alien involved, but no invasion this time."

"So you need my help again?

"Yes, I think I do, but not with the alien. I've got someone else on it."

"Oh." He looked confused. "So what do you need me for?"

With his elbows already on his chairs armrests, the Doctor pushed himself up straighter in his chair and Wilfred saw a pained expression cross his face. Whatever he had to say, it probably wasn't good.

"It's alright Doctor, you can tell me anything."

Wilfred could hear the emotion in the Doctor's voice when he replied.

"I don't want to do this."

He hesitated, but asked anyway. "Do what?"

The Doctor held his gaze. "Say goodbye."

It was now Wilfred's turn to sit up straighter in his chair. This really was goodbye!. He didn't know what to say. So the two men sat there, staring at each other. Wilfred was the first one to blink, or at least notice the Doctor fiddling with the ring on his left hand.

"You got married?" He asked.

"Hmm." The Doctor grunted in assent.

"What's she like, your wife?"

He smiled a sad smile. "She was amazing."

Wilfred picked up on the all important "was" and offered his condolence. "I'm sorry."

"She was also insightful. She said I didn't like endings…and she was right. Never did tell her goodbye, even though I had every chance to. This must be her and fate conspiring against me."

"Goodbye's aren't so bad Doctor. I wish I was awake. I'd like to be able to say goodbye to the family. Not just up and leave them."

"But I'm always the one being left!" The Doctor snapped. He hadn't meant to whinge, but it was a pattern of loss that had started in his childhood and followed him throughout his regenerations. Surprised by his own outburst the Doctor leaned into his elbow on the right armrest, shutting off any further outbursts by resting his mouth against the back of his balled-up hand. Wilfred could still hear the heavy sigh that escaped through his nose.

"Then why do you do it Doctor?"

"Do what?" He mumbled into the back of his hand.

"Come here to earth? Travel with us humans. With people like Donna?"

The Doctor leaned back into his chair. Leave it to Wilfred to state the obvious! "You know why."

"No one should be alone Doctor. Especially you."

"But you all leave me in the end. Whether you want to or not."

Wilfred knew he had no argument against such a statement, but he felt he needed to say or do something, so he stood up, walked over and stood in front of the Doctor. He held out his hand until the Doctor reached up and took hold. "Thank you, Doctor."

"Fffforr what?"

"For not saying goodbye."

"Why would you thank me for that?"

Wilfred lay is other hand atop the Doctors. "Because if you never say goodbye, then it always means you're coming back."

The Doctor laughed aloud and slapped Wilfred against is shoulder with his free hand. "Ooh, you old dog…you've been talking to my wife haven't you?"

Wilfred was confused. "Whaaa…?"

The Doctor let go of Wilfred's hand and waved it dismissively. "Oh…it's nothing. I've just lived so long that I'd forgotten." He couldn't suppress his grin. "Leave it to Wilfred Mott to be there, waiting to remind me!"

"Uhhh…glad I could help?" Wilfred wasn't quite sure what the Doctor was on about.

"I should be the one thanking you." The Doctor reached out to take his hand, but their hands passed through one another.

Wilfred looked at his hand. "What's happening Doctor?" His hand was beginning to fade away.

"Wilfred?" The Doctor grabbed futilely at his dear friend's fading image.

"Doctor!" He yelled, but his voice was fading.

"Wilfred!"

"Doctor…" Wilfred's voice was now barley audible.

"Wilfred!"

"D..o…," his image and voice faded away leaving the Doctor staring into the blackness. He closed his eyes and felt his consciousness being pulled back into his own body. When he opened his eyes, he found himself back in the chair next to Wilfred's bed.

The Doctor let his hands linger for a moment on Wilfred's face before he leaned in and kissed him gently on the forehead. Knowing this really was the end, his voice broke as he whispered. "Goodbye old friend."

The Doctor found Nardol in the Hospital's cafeteria, but he hadn't been looking for him. He was looking for Donna. He ignored Nardol waving him over and scanned the room for her and her family. They were gone. He had been hoping to see her one more time but fate seemed to have other plans. Maybe they would meet again. One day. He headed off to join Nardol at is table.

"Did you get me anything?" He asked as he pulled up a chair..

Nardol replied by scraping the last bit out of a pudding cup, licking the spoon clean and depositing both the cup and spoon onto his equally cleaned plate.

The Doctor crossed his arms and stretched out his legs as he leaned back into his chair. "Thanks," he commented sarcastically

"And thank you too Doctor," Nardol replied in kind.

He really wasn't in the mood. "For what?" He grumbled.

"For telling me that if I took the white conversion armband off the boy's father…that the duplicate would collapse into a gelatinous blob."

He'd forgotten about that. "Sorry."

Nardol's eyebrows shot up in surprise. The Doctor rarely apologized to him. "So did you get it?" He asked.

"Get what?"

"Your closure?"

The Doctor lowered his gaze and crossed his legs. "Hmmph."

His response didn't surprise Nardol, but he still rolled his eyes. "Right." He wiped his mouth off with a paper napkin. "Shall we go?"

"We still need to collect that duplicating machine."

"Done already."

The Doctor frowned and sunk a little further down in his chair.

Nardol got up and grabbed his tray. He stopped beside the Doctor and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Doctor, the universe still needs you."

The Doctor replied by blowing out an exasperated breath from between his lips.

Nardol changed is tactic. "There's a fresh pot of coffee in the Tardis."

"Did you get donuts?"

Nardol took his hand off the Doctor's shoulder and fished around in his cavernous coat pocket. He pulled out a cellophane wrapped packet of mini powered donuts. "I got your favorite."

Coffee and donuts. He thought, smiling more to himself than at Nardol as he accepted the proffered packet. Things are starting to look up!

(Authors note: Thank you to Terrance Dicks for the use of his alien from the episode The Faceless Ones.)