A while ago, I realized that since Night of the Doctor makes this story AU, so I rewrote this for the War Doctor instead of the 8th saying goodbye to the Brig. For those of you who read The Other Companion, my story on hiatus, rest assured, I'm making good progress with it.

And, as always, I don't own anything.

On the planet Earth, especially in the part of it generally known as "England," there are many gardens, and many of those gardens have houses attached to them. One of these houses was home to the great human known as Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, his wife Doris, and their daughter Kate. Out of nowhere, a familiar rasping, groaning, wheezing sound started up, building and building until a blue box that hadn't been there a few moments ago now sat on the lawn, looking as if it had always been there. A man slipped out of the box. To someone who didn't know better, he would've looked like a more or less ordinary human, although they might have raised eyebrows at the man's choice of a bandolier, in which was tucked this man's sonic screwdriver. Those who did know him might have recognized him as the ninth incarnation of the Time Lord generally known as "the Doctor," although his enemies had many other names for him, many of which were not very polite.

Stepping out of the box and closing the doors, he sighed, straightened his jacket. "Might as well get this over with, eh, girl?" he murmured, and walked over to knock on the door. Moments later, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart opened the door and smiled.

"Ah, Doctor, it's you again, isn't it?" he asked.

"I am he," said the man. "The only one."

"Now, we both know that's not entirely true, Doctor," said the younger man, leading him into the kitchen, where the kettle was boiling. "Tea?" he asked. At his friend's nod, Lethbridge-Stewart poured it into two cups and inserted a couple of teabags. The Doctor took his mug and sat down, idly swirling the teabag in his and trying to enjoy one last moment of being called "the Doctor."

"You've had lots of other selves, if I remember correctly," Lethbridge-Stewart commented as he sat down opposite the Time Lord. "Many before, yes, but I doubt any after this one."

The Brigadier sat up. "Why? What's happened?"

The one-word answer froze him to the bone.

"Daleks, Brigadier. I'm going to war."

The human soldier leaped to his feet, a little wobbly because of his leg, but still determined.

"Where? I haven't heard about them, and UNIT's gone downhill since I've left, but surely-"

"They're not on your planet, Brigadier," said the Doctor sadly, taking out his teabag, putting it aside, and taking a sip. "They're on mine. I tried to avoid the war, tried to help out where I could, but…no more. Now I become a warrior. Now I fight, with the whole of creation both prize and battleground."

"You, old friend? A warrior?"

"People change," he said with a small, sad smile. "I wasn't going to interfere…I thought, what the hell, I'll leave them to fight it out. But the war's dragged on too long, and if I don't intervene now, there will soon be nothing left to fight over. Besides, there was this girl, Cass…young child, barely into adulthood. She was piloting a crashing gunship, and when I tried to save her….she refused. Just because I'm a Time Lord. We crash-landed on the planet Karn. I survived, she didn't. I realized that I can't run any longer. And I am no longer the Doctor. From now on, I shall be the Warrior. Doctors do not fight in wars. I can't make people better anymore."

The Time Lord took a deep gulp of tea, pretending that the tears in his eyes were just from the heat of the drink. The Brigadier nodded.

"I'm sorry."

"So am I."

After a moment, Lethbridge-Stewart stood, and began to stride out of the room. "Brigadier, where on Earth do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to get my old revolver. If you're going to war, you need someone to watch your back." "No." "What?" asked Lethbridge-Stewart.

"Doctor, you have saved our planet dozens of times with little thanks and no reward. We may not always have seen eye-to-eye on everything, but I'll be damned if I let you go fight the Daleks without me. You need someone to watch your back, Doctor."

The Time Lord sighed and put down his cup. "I can't, Brigadier. This is a Time War, and you're not time-sensitive. You'd never be able to cope. If not for that…I'd rather have you at my back than just about any Time Lord."

"I'm honored, Doctor," said the human, sitting down again with a small smile. The Time Lord quirked a bitter grin in return.

"You shouldn't be, most are lazy, arrogant bureaucrats."

"Rather like my own species, then." They shared a smile.

"I'm afraid I must disagree with you there, my friend. Your species, despite its limited brainpower and seeming inability to learn from its mistakes, is really rather brilliant. You fight monsters, explore new places, dive in where angels fear to tread. And, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, despite our many differences and arguments, I have always respected your courage and integrity. You proved that it's possible to fight a war and still be a good man. I hope that I can follow your example."

"You will, Doctor. Despite constantly irritating myself and the rest of UNIT with your shabby timekeeping and miscellaneous experiments and reversing the polarity of the neutron flow, you have always been a good man, and you always will be."

"We'll see," murmured the Warrior. "And I had best be going." The two men gripped hands, a mutual understanding passing between them. Lethbridge-Stewart saw him to the door. As the Time Lord began to leave, the Brigadier called him back.

"Look after yourself. Just remember that there will always be a warm fire and a cuppa here if you need it. And blow up some Daleks for me, will you?"

The War Doctor smiled. "I will. Take care, Lethbridge-Stewart."

"And you." The Time Lord turned and strode back to his TARDIS. He opened one door, then looked back and saluted his friend, also framed in the door of his own home. Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart snapped a salute in return, and the Doctor did the same, before stepping inside his ship. A moment later, there was a thrum, and the box, instead of slowly fading from sight, shot straight up like a rocket and disappeared into the heavens. And that was the last either man saw of the other for a long time.

"Good luck, Doctor," murmured his friend. He knew that the war with the Daleks would be terrible beyond measure, and when the man had announced that he was renouncing his title, it had almost scared the Brigadier. But he also knew that no matter what happened, the Doctor-and all that he stood for-would survive, somehow, some way.

He always did, after all.

I hope he isn't too OOC, it's a bit difficult when there's only one story (and about five seconds from Name of the Doctor) to work from, plus this is before all the horror he went through. Well? What did you think? Please review.