The Doctor and I had made it back to the TARDIS, our disguises wearing off. I hadn't remembered the walk from the TARDIS to the city being that long, but nonetheless, we had returned. He opened the door, let me go in first and then followed.
"I don't know about you," He yawned, shutting the door behind him. "But I am about ready for bed."
"Bed?" I looked at him and he only put his arm around my shoulders.
"Yes, bed. It's been a very long adventure and I think it's time for a nap." He steered me toward the back of the TARDIS where two rooms had appeared. "You can pick either room."
I gave a glance at both doors, and then nodded my head to the left. "I'll take the left."
He nodded, let my shoulders go, and opened the door for me. "M'lady." He bowed his head when I walked in. The room was average size, the walls a navy blue with stars on the ceiling. The queen sized bed had a matching blue bedspread with a golden headboard. "I trust you like the room?"
I nodded and turned back to him. "It's beautiful. Thank you, Doctor."
"You're welcome. I'll…leave you to it, then." He began backing up, slowly shutting the door. "Goodnight."
"Night." He closed the door, and I stared at the bed. Who did he remind me of?
Suddenly, the door opened and the Doctor popped his head back in. "Oh, um, by the way, I don't know why you and Geoffrey broke up, but you are a fantastic kisser."
A bright red blush crept up my cheeks. "Uh, thank you. You are as well."
"Thanks." A similar blush appeared on his face. "Right, um…go-goodnight." He stumbled over his own words slightly.
"Goodnight." I said through a large smile.
He closed the door again. I couldn't stop smiling as I threw my jacket off. I was going to take the sport coat he gave me, but thought better of it and kept it on. I kicked off my low-top Chuck Taylors, and lay on the bed. It was the most comfortable bed I had ever been on. It was soft, but it was firm enough so that I didn't sink, the pillow…had to have real feathers in it. It was going to be a good night.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
The Doctor leaned against my door, smiling like a fool. How could he not smile? He stayed against the door, still smiling, for a few minutes before he composed himself a little and went into his own room. It was very similar to mine, the only real difference being the color of the headboard: It was silver instead of gold.
"How long has it been, old man?" He asked himself, taking off his shoes. "How long since you instigated a kiss?" He had to think about that one. Running a hand through his short blonde hair, he said, "Two regeneration cycles? Three?"
His smile faded a little when he looked into the mirror on the back of the door. "And now she's going to leave. Because you are not an old man anymore."
A knock on his door brought him out of his reverie. "Come in."
I opened the door. "Doctor?"
"Yes, Muse?"
"Um, can I ask you a question?"
He nodded and patted the spot next to him on the bed. "Of course."
I sat down. "What if the M-Mroskians followed us? Couldn't they just come in and kill us then?"
A small chuckled fell out of the Doctor's mouth. "No." He shook his head. "You need a key to get in."
"Oh." I was relieved, and a little disappointed that a key was all it took.
He took note of my disappointment and added. "But if it makes you feel any better, you can stay here." He shrugged. "Two Timelords are better than one."
The blush came back to my face. "Are you sure you want me invading your space?"
He blushed as well. "I wouldn't mind that much."
It had hit me. "Oh my God." My blush sharply fell.
"What? What's the matter? I didn't get younger, did I?" He shot a glance to the mirror to check.
"I know who you remind me of." My shoulders dropped.
"Who?"
I shook my head. "I can't tell you. Look, I know you're tired, but can you please take me home."
The Doctor's heart broke at my words. "Yeah." He said lowly, getting up from the bed. "Yeah, let's get you home." We avoided each other's gaze as we left his room and walked back to the main control room, keeping at least a foot of space between us. He pushed several buttons and pulled a few levers before the TARDIS began shaking like an earthquake. It was an extremely violent ride, me falling into the Doctor more than once. Once the shaking had stopped, I got up from the floor (where I had last landed), and kept that distance between the Doctor and I.
"There," He said, looking at a monitor. "It'll be like you never left." He sounded very sad, and disappointed.
I kept my lips thin. "Thank you." I moved a little closer to him. "Um, thank you again for taking on an adventure with you, but I think I've had enough adventure for one lifetime."
He simply nodded. "Uh, if you should ever…" He trailed off, dropping his previous thought. "Try not to let your TARDIS die. Take it out every now and then."
"Maybe I'll just give it to Jenny," I thought out loud. "She stops by every now and then."
"Jenny?" The Doctor's eyes widened. "Who's Jenny?"
"Another Timelord I met a while back. She checks in when she's tired of traveling."
He gave a short chuckle. "I can't believe you know Jenny." He said in awe. Sure he'd heard a few things about her in his travels, but he'd never actually talked to someone who interacted with her.
"You know Jenny?" I raised an eyebrow.
The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, I met her once. Great kid."
I agreed. "Yeah, she is pretty cool." There was a silence between us. After a few moments of us just standing there, I said, "Well, I should be going."
He nodded again, "Yeah, you probably should."
I turned away from him and began for the door when I turned around and launched myself at the Doctor. I crashed my lips upon his, and he eagerly responded. He grabbed my waist and brought me closer to him; I pulled his head down and opened my mouth a smidgen. He didn't want to let me go, he didn't want to break our contact to breathe, but he had to. The Doctor reluctantly took his lips from mine, but he wouldn't allow the distance between us to expand.
"You don't have to go." He whispered, making an attempt to keep me from leaving.
I nodded. "Yes I do, I can't leave Sharon."
"Be my companion, travel with me." He practically pleaded.
It really hurt the both of us when I said, "I can't, not when you look like that."
His heart shattered into a billion pieces this time. But he tried not to show it. "I understand. You don't want to be seen with a fourteen year old."
I shook my head, turning back to the door. "It's not that. You just look too much like him."
"Like who?"
I didn't answer. I just left, shutting the door of the TARDIS behind me.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Dejectedly, the Doctor went back to his room, shutting the door and punching the mirror, effectively breaking it. He didn't care about the fact that his knuckles were bleeding, he just slammed the door open, slammed it closed, opened the door to my room, and punched the mirror there, this time with the other fist.
He was so angry. He had never been this angry over a companion leaving him before; he didn't quite understand why he was feeling this way. He sat on my bed, nearly sitting on the coat I left behind. He picked it up from the bed and rifled through the pockets, finding his screwdriver, a purple click-e pen, and a wallet. The Doctor opened the wallet, filed through my driver's license, bank card, some dollar bills, and a picture caught his eye. He pulled it out and instantly knew why I'd left.
He didn't waste any time in sprinting back to the control room, pushing more buttons, pulling more levers, and practically falling over as the TARDIS jumped back into life.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Ten Years Earlier
I sat in my new classroom, playing with my new hair, in my new private High School. I hated this new skin, it made me so uncomfortable; even more so than this stupid uniform (green and blue plaid skirt and plain white blouse). I didn't know my own face yet before Dad shoved me into this new school. Everyone's talking around me. They probably all know each other from elementary school. I pulled my long hair a little harder, expecting to see red. I saw black instead, and my face fell.
"Hi!" I jumped when as boy sat next me with a huge smile on his face.
"What are you doing?" I said, leaning back in my seat.
"I'm saying 'Hello'."
"Hello?" I responded.
"Are you okay?" He asked tilting his head to the left.
"…Yes." I lied.
He squinted his eyes. "Are you sure?"
My eyes fell. "No."
"What's the matter?" His blue eyes pierced my brown ones.
"I miss my hair." I shrugged as I played with it nervously. "It used to be red."
"I wish I had red hair." He ran a hand through his short blonde scalp. "Of all the times my hair has changed it's never been red." The boy held out his hand. "I'm Geoffrey."
I shakily took his hand. "Re-uh, Muse. I'm Muse."
"It's very nice to meet you Muse." The door of the classroom opened, and a freezing breeze wafted in. I shivered tremendously. "Here," Geoffrey shrugged off his dark blue suit jacket and handed it to me.
"I'm good, thanks." I politely declined.
"You're freezing, just take it." He got up from his seat and placed it over my shoulders.
I blushed a little. "Aren't you going to be cold?" I asked, reveling in the warmth of the coat.
He shrugged, moving his uniform green and blue argyle sweater up and down. "I have a sweater, you have a blouse."
The blush became a deeper shade of red. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. " He smiled at me like he'd known me for a while. He kept staring at me, and after a few minutes, I finally got uncomfortable.
"What?"
"Do you want to go out with me?" He blurted out.
"Excuse me!" I exclaimed, thoroughly shocked.
"Do you want to go out with me?" He repeated.
My eyebrows knitted together. "I don't even know you."
"All the more reason we should go together."
I really didn't have a response to that. "But," I began, trying to piece together an answer. "Why?" Obviously I didn't come up with anything good.
"Because I have a feeling you are quite adventurous."
I shook my head. "I really hate 'adventuring'. I like to stay home."
"Well then," Geoffrey said, thinking up a new excuse. "How about, you would make a great traveling companion?" He said with a smirk.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I didn't know if I should've taken offense to that or not.
"Anything you want." He kept staring at me.
"You're not going to go away until I say 'yes', are you?"
He shook his head, a smile gleaming upon his face. "Nope."
I sighed, giving him a good look: He was tall, unlike me, had short blonde hair and bright blue eyes. "Okay, I'll go out with you."
Geoffrey beamed. "Fantastic! How about a date this Friday?"
"What did you have in mind?"
"Spoilers."