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“Oh dear.”
Nyssa looked down at the TARDIS console which she was gripping with white knuckles, as the shaking subsided. She quickly backed away when smoke exploded out of it. She then looked at the Doctor.
“What happened, Doctor?”
The Doctor with a set face shoved his hands into his trouser pockets and paced for a while. Then a more worried expression dawned on him. Nyssa mirrored it and shot an inquiring eyebrow up at him. The Doctor sighed.
“I'm afraid, Nyssa, we're not at the Eye of Orion.” he said with a deflated voice.
“No, I meant, why's the console smoking? I've never seen it do that before.”
The Doctor, as if only now realizing that something was wrong with the console, glanced down at it and fanned his hand in front of him as he registered he was currently breathing the fumes in.
“Yes, well, that's not good either..” he muttered, his eyes scanning the switches below him.
“Either?” questioned Nyssa, “Is something else wrong?”
The Doctor looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed. “Well, I just told you. The TARDIS got the place wrong.” he said with an ‘Isn’t it obvious?’ look.
Nyssa’s eyes rolled. “I know, but that's our usual situation. I thought there was more to be worried about.”
The Doctor fiddled with the switches and rounded the console, with one hand still fanning the smoke and coughing almost dramatically. “Smoke suddenly coming out of the TARDIS console isn't worrying enough?”
Nyssa put her hands on her hips as she watched him. “Oh Doctor, you know perfectly well what I meant. Now, is there anything I can do?”
He paused in his fluttering movements, one hand gripping a lever. “Yes, well, why don't you fetch an extinguisher?” the Doctor said with a thoughtful inflection. Before Nyssa could move, he quickly added “Not the regular one! The blue one, designed specifically for the console.”
Nyssa nodded and walked towards the door leading to the TARDIS’ corridors. “Yes, Doctor,” she said with a mock annoyed voice.
As Nyssa left, the Doctor put his hands on the console and lowered himself, as if whispering a secret to her. “What's wrong old girl, eh?”
After a few minutes, Nyssa returned, panting, with a TARDIS-blue extinguisher in her hands.
The Doctor looked up as she roughly put it down on the floor, the metal thudding against the console room floor. She blew her hair away from her face.
“Alright?” he asked with a polite smile.
Nyssa sighed, but returned it. “Yes, just tired. You know Doctor, you should keep your extinguishers close by. After crossing about 5 corridors that look exactly the same, it gets a bit heavy. What if I wasn't around and someone less competent would have to carry it for you?”
The Doctor exhaled a laugh. “Good thing I've got you around then.”
“You're welcome,” she said with a huff and once again gathering her strength, she picked up the extinguisher, shook it a bit and pointed the nozzle at the console. The Doctor ducked out of the way with a yelp.
The smoke stopped and the Doctor went right back to examining the console once again, this time with a clearer view.
Nyssa arrived at his side with a curious look. “Can you tell what's wrong, Doctor?”
He went back to flipping the switches and examined the screens. “Yes..” he said absent-mindedly and Nyssa knew he wasn't answering her question, but was rather talking to himself. She crossed her arms and waited.
After murmuring for a little longer he ‘Aha!’’d in triumph and nodded to himself with a pleased smile on his face. Nyssa smiled too, knowing they wouldn't be in trouble much longer.
“Seems it's not as grave as I imagined. Oh, why'd you have to make such a scene out of it, old girl? No need for theatrics!” the Doctor finally said, now talking to the TARDIS.
“Doctor?” Nyssa asked, her curiosity growing along with her impatience.
He met her eyes. “We’ve run out of mercury.” he answered her longstanding question.
Nyssa barked with laughter. “That's all?”
The Doctor nodded with a laugh on his own. “Quite.”
She collected her breath and touched a button on the console. “Well then, let's go out, wherever and whenever we landed, and fetch some!” The screen on the wall lit up.
Both the Doctor and Nyssa squinted as the screen was hazy, blurred probably by steam or a heavy fog. They glanced at each other quizzically.
“Where are we?” Nyssa asked.
“Wherever we are, let's just hope they've got some mercury we can borrow.” the Doctor remarked as he slowly approached the coat hanger. He grabbed his coat and his hat then turned around. “I think we better dress up a bit thicker. It doesn't look terribly warm out there.”
With Nyssa wearing a fuzzy coat and the Doctor unusually wearing a thicker one on top of his cricket-ish coat, they looked over at the readings.
“No radiation, air breathable, location Culloden, Highlands, Scotland, year 1791,” read Nyssa out loud. “Scotland… is that on Earth, Doctor?”
When Nyssa looked at him, he was still looking at the readings but with a strange sad gleam. She gently nudged his side with her elbow. “Doctor?”
He looked up, his reverie cut short. “Yes indeed, Nyssa. Scotland.. that explains the lack of visibility. We seem to not be able to escape Earth these days, huh?” he said with a light smile, yet it still seemed like something was bothering him. Nyssa frowned, wanting to question him about it, but decided against it.
He put his hat on, despite the fact that he will probably soon put it away in his coat anyway, and with a determined look he pulled the lever and opened the door. “Well, no time like the present,” he said and walked out, Nyssa following close behind.
The Doctor barely stepped out of the TARDIS when he suddenly bumped into something, Nyssa therefore bumping into his back. He groaned as his forehead met another one in the collision. As he aggressively blinked the pain away, the figure in front of him jumped away and the travellers properly walked out, a bit dazed, closing the door behind them.
Nyssa looked around them and took in their surroundings. This ‘Scotland’ quickly lived up to its name in her mind as she saw just land stretching for miles and miles. Around that were the woods. The air was thick with fog, the same way as they saw on the scanner, and it was bitingly cold. She tucked herself instinctively tighter into her coat. She finally peered from behind the Doctor's shoulder and found a young girl, probably a bit younger than her, standing in front of them and staring with incredulity at them.
The Doctor, predictably, took off his hat and smiled, albeit a little strained.
“Hel–” he started.
“Are ye real?” the girl rushed to ask.
The Doctor looked back at Nyssa with an amused look. He turned back to the girl and folded his hat in his hands.
“Yes,” he simply answered.
“Is this..” she pointed at the TARDIS behind them. “Are ye.. I cannae believe it!” The girl took her head into her hands.
Nyssa walked slowly towards her and put a hand on her shoulder, at which she flinched. “Are you alright?”
“Ye cannae be real! Fairytales are jus’ that – fairytales. We all thought he conjured it up, he thought…” she trailed off.
“I'm sorry, what do you mean fairytales?” the Doctor asked, approaching her too, but this time she jumped away.
She frantically looked back and forth at Nyssa and the Doctor, then her gaze landed on the TARDIS. She breathed.
“I-is this the TARDIS?”
The Doctor's breath caught and Nyssa’s eyes widened.
“You recognize it?” she asked, then looked at the Doctor for some answer.
“How do you know what it's called?” he inquired.
“If this is the TARDIS, then you must be the Doctor!” she said and her scared look slowly morphed into a fascinated one. She walked towards him, and when she was near enough, she prodded at the stick of celery stuck on his lapel, as if testing if he's not just a phantom.
The Doctor, startled, looked up at Nyssa with exasperation and found her holding in a laugh. He reached out and took her hand in both of his and shook them. “That's right. The girl right behind you is Nyssa. And who might you be?”
“My name's Kirsty.” She shook his hands back.
The Doctor froze. “Kirsty? But you can't be. Is this really 1791?”
“Aye.”
“And you're Kirsty.. McLaren?”
She laughed. “No actually, that's my late nan. I was named after her. I’m Kirsty McCrimmon.”
“Doctor, did you know her?” Nyssa piped up.
“I met her once a while back. I must have been, ooh about 450 back then.” he sighed. “Oh but enough about that, how do you know the TARDIS and I?”
“Oh, everyone in the village kens the stories. I grew up on ‘em.”
“Stories?” Nyssa asked.
Kirsty turned to her. “Aye. The Space Travels, we call ‘em. My grandad is known for ‘em. He's been tellin’ them for years – the stories of the magical Doctor who could open doors with sticks, who came tae whisk ye away from Scotland in a flyin’ blue box and fought bad guys. I thought he'd be a great writer, aye, but he refuses til do anything other than jus’ tell ‘em.”
And there it was, the weird expression on the Doctor's face again, making him look older than his appearance would suggest. This time though, it seemed a bit brighter. Maybe it wasn't a bad one afterall.
“Kirsty, would you mind introducing us to this grandfather of yours?” Nyssa proposed, coming up to stand next to the Doctor.
Kirsty gasped. “Oh, that'd be brilliant! Ack, but no one's gonna believe me when I tell ‘em it's really ya. They're jus’ gonna think I went mad.”
Nyssa patted her arm. “I'm sure we'll figure something out.” She turned to the Doctor and hooked her arm into his elbow. “What do you say, Doctor?”
He nodded. “Yes, I'd very much like to meet him, too.”
As Kirsty led them through the woods, seemingly in no hurry at all, her questions turned out to be neverending. Good thing the Doctor loved talking, thought Nyssa, as she trailed right behind the two of them, lost in conversation (if you could call just asking’n’answering a conversation).
“So are ye alien?” she asked enthusiastically.
“Depends how you look at it, but from your perspective – yes, I suppose I am.”
“How else would ye look at it?”
“Well, to me, you are an alien.”
“But I’m from Earth, aliens are nae.”
“I'm from Gallifrey. Nyssa's from Traken. The Earth is alien to us, the same way we are to you.”
“Oh aye, so there are other planets oot there?”
“Of course.”
***
“Is it true you helped in the battle of Culloden?”
“Not really. I just helped out some Jacobites and the Laird afterwards.”
“Do ye really fly in that small box?”
“We do.”
“Isn't it too small?”
“The TARDIS is actually bigger than it looks on the outside. My people mastered the technology to make both that and flying possible.”
“You mentioned bein’ 450.. that's – years old?”
“That's right. Though I'm much older now.”
“How’d you do that then?”
“My people age differently, 90 years for you is very old, for us it's still adolescence, while 700 is almost middle-age. And if we die, then we change our bodies.”
“Och, that's how you don't have dark hair no more?”
“Dark hair?” asked Nyssa.
Kirsty turned towards her. “Aye, well, grandad told us the Doctor had dark messy hair an’ baggy clothes, an’ sometimes a recorder.”
“How did you know it was me, then?”
“He also said that he was the most eccentric lookin’ lad he's ever met.”
“Right!” Nyssa laughed.
“You're quite sharp, you know,” observed the Doctor.
Kirsty grinned. “Thank you. It means a lot from the ‘smartest man in the universe’”
“Well that's that, it can't be him.” Nyssa teased.
“Oh Nyssa, you wound me,” The Doctor said dramatically, holding his hand to his left heart. “You're no better than Tegan.” he pointed a finger at her.
***
The Doctor slowed his pace after a while to match Nyssa's. “Alright?”
“Sure. My legs hurt. And it's a bit cold.”
“Yes, I'm sure it'd also be less tiresome to walk if the ground wasn't so wet.”
“Are you alright?”
The Doctor fully looked at her. “Why wouldn't I be?”
“We’re going to meet an old companion of yours, aren't we?”
“What makes you think that?”
Nyssa gave him an unamused look. “Kirsty’s grandfather’s stories? He couldn't know all that unless he actually travelled with you. And besides, you keep having this look.”
“What look?” he asked, incredulous.
“Just this… nostalgic, weirdly sad smile.”
The Doctor scoffed. “That's ridiculous, Nyssa.”
She shrugged. Then, “Who is he?”
The Doctor looked away from her, clearly uncomfortable with the topic, though he'd never admit it.
“No one. It doesn't matter. Just..” he paused. “Three faces ago, fresh out of my regeneration, I met this lad at the end of a battle, right here, except in 1746. After that, we travelled together, and through everything, he always stayed. I've never had someone around that long. Then the Time Lord’s put me on trial for interference, took my face away, erased his memories of his travels with me and put him back here. I just can't believe that in some way, somehow, he does remember everything we've been through, even though he's convinced that it's all just a figment of his imagination.”
“But Doctor, that's incredible! Despite your people's memory wipe, he still remembers you!” Nyssa cried, maybe a bit too enthusiastically. He shouldn't be sad about this at all.
The Doctor smiled at her, as was her goal. “It is, isn't it?”
“Well now I really have to meet him.”
After about half an hour of walking, they finally reached the village.
Kirsty led them to a cottage and frantically knocked. When no reply came, she leaned against the door and glued her ear to it. She listened for a second then straightened out and beckoned them over as she opened the door. They walked in and immediately the sound of bagpipes hit their ears. When they finally arrived at what must have been a living room, the source of the sound turned out to be a middle-aged man, playing with his hands wrapped around the instrument. Their eyes met and the man stopped playing, and put down the pipes. The Doctor instinctively smiled and Nyssa copied him.
“Hullo, da,” said Kirsty.
“Who’re yer friends?”
“This is Nyssa an’ the Doctor. Doctor, Nyssa, this is me da, Alistair.”
“Alistair, huh?” That reminds me of someone, thought the Doctor. “Very pleased to meet you,” he extended his hand.
Alistair regarded him for a second then reached out too. “Jus’ the ‘Doctor’? Doctor Who?”
Kirsty burst out. “It's the Doctor from the stories, Da! He's real!” She exclaimed, almost child-like, despite looking at least 17 years old.
The man laughed, condescending. “Och Kirsty, thought you'd outgrown me dad’s stories.”
“That's actually why we came. We want to meet him,” explained the Doctor.
“Where's grandad?”
“I reckon he's in the garden. But I'd rather you dinnae bother yer grandfather James, dearie. You ken how he gets aboot his stories.”
“Aye da, ta,” Kirsty said and walked out. The Doctor and Nyssa hurried over and out too, giving a small wave to Alistair.
They walked out to the surprisingly vast garden and the Doctor stopped in his tracks when he noticed movement in his periphery. When he turned his head, he found Kirsty talking to.. him.
He had a kilt on, a sporran, a white shirt underneath a vest and almost knee high socks. Basically wearing what he always has. He now just had a bit more wrinkles, saggier cheeks and grayer hair to top it off.
“Jamie Robert McCrimmon, as I live and breathe!” the Doctor exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement and hurried over to him.
He must be 76 this year.
The older-looking man startled as the Doctor ran over to him and he got his breath knocked out of him as the Doctor looped his arms around him and hugged him. Kirsty, who stood right next to them, laughed.
Jamie didn't move, didn't hug back, but didn't kick him off either. When the Doctor finally unglued himself, he put his hands on Jamie's shoulders and shot him a relieved smile. He felt a weight leave his chest.
Jamie didn't know why but he couldn't help but reciprocate, the corners of his mouth twitching on their own “Um, hullo?”
“Wait, that's Jamie?! The Jamie?!” Nyssa called out. “That’s the name you called us all at least once after your regeneration.”
“Am sorry, who are you?” Jamie asked, still not kicking the Doctor off.
“I'm the Doctor, Jamie,” he explained.
A couple of emotions surged and showed up on Jamie's face. He ended up grimacing. The Doctor's stomach got a bit heavier. “Doctor? Kirsty, how do we need a doctor?”
“No Jamie, I'm the Doctor. The definite article, some might say.”
“Mind, you're the only one that says that,” Nyssa commented, but got ignored again.
Then, Jamie grabbed the Doctor's arms and lowered them from his shoulders. “Are you makin’ fun of me stories, young lad? It's fiction, there is no Doctor.” he barked.
The Doctor smirked knowingly and put his hands behind his back, wringing them together, and he leaned his face a bit closer. “Oh, but you know it's not, don't you? All of that, everything we went through, everyone we had to fight back against – the Daleks, Cybermen, Yeti, Ice Warriors; one simple man from the 18th century couldn't possibly conjure anything like that on his own. And you have to know that. It's not fiction Jamie, you've lived it, I've lived it, Ben, Polly, Victoria and Zoe lived it too. You must know!”
The greying Highlander's eyes started to widen and disbelief was coloured all over his face.
“How’d you.. but ye’re nae him, you cannae be!”
“What's with everyone today and telling me what I am and what I'm not?” the Doctor complained.
“But ye’re blonde an’ young. An’ dressed like a pansy,” Jamie commented.
“Hey!” the Doctor snapped and clapped Jamie on the head. “I'll have you know this is high fashion on Gallifrey!”
“Oh aye? Last time I was there, the Doctor said the same thing an’ it really wasn't.”
“What do you know about fashion, anyway, you hairy-legged Highlander?”
Jamie looked like he was about to respond but then he burst out laughing. The Doctor immediately joined him and they started grabbing each other for support as they got light-headed. Nyssa and Kirsty exchanged a surprised look.
Laughter died down, but the two men were still holding onto each other, like they were about to drown on dry land. Jamie teared up and it was no longer possible to tell if it was only from the laughter. His grip on the Doctor's arms tightened.
“Ar–” Jamie cleared his throat. “Are you really him?” he asked with urgency in his, what sounded like, choked up voice.
The Doctor nodded and smiled. “It's me, Jamie. It's really me.”
Jamie then wrapped his arms over the Doctor and pulled him towards himself, hugging the Doctor aggressively. The Doctor reciprocated and in kind squeezed Jamie's back in his palms, scrunching up the material.
While they were hugging, Kirsty and Nyssa quietly slipped back inside, deciding to give them a moment alone.
“Double heartbeat..” Jamie softly whispered to himself. “I cannae believe I let myself think you weren't real,” he said, his speech muffled by the Doctor's neck.
“I can't believe you didn't lose your memories,” the Doctor responded.
“I did. But after a year or two I started getting these dreams, memories of oor adventures, then they started coming back tae me in broad daylight. I thought I was losing me mind. I had tae tell someone, but I was terrified. When I did, people thankfully didn't, y’ken, lock me up, but instead jus’ took ‘em as make-believe. I knew there had tae be more to it, but I didn't have proof so after a while I jus’ thought: ‘Maybe I am a conjurer, jus’ a story teller’.” Jamie let out a sob but quickly drowned it in the Doctor's coat.
“I missed you. I've been missin’ ya for 45 years,” he continued.
“I’ve been missing you for hundreds of years.”
Jamie pulled away and looked the Doctor in his eye. He leveled with him then wetly chuckled “I guess I got the better side of the bargain.”
The Doctor smiled ruefully. He patted Jamie's arm. “Let's go inside, I'm freezing. I still don't know how you're fine in that kilt,” he said and pointedly looked down at Jamie's bare knees.
Jamie sniffed and wiped his face with his sleeve. “Oh, I thought the veggie was for keepin’ you warm,” he remarked and pointed at it with a crooked smile as they started going back to the inside of the cottage.
“What a nerve!” The Doctor dramatically said, impersonating his older self. Jamie laughed.
As they walked to the living room, they kept close by, Jamie's hand ghosting over the Doctor's arm. The Doctor quickly found himself enjoying the closeness, remembering how back then, they had no concept of personal space. He always felt a hand on his back, his shoulder, arm, elbow or forearm. If he didn't, it was likely that he was the one reaching out. He usually wasn't a terribly tactile man, but with Jamie it felt like second nature.
When they didn't want to get lost, sometimes they'd hold hands, when they were running they were so close that more often than not they'd bump shoulders. They ate out of the same plate, grabbed for each other instead of the console like reasonable people when there was turbulence, and always looked for ways to sit next to each other. Once they bathed together when the TARDIS ran out of warm water.
Jamie was the first human best friend he's ever had. He was the first he ever…
“Oh Doctor, come try the biscuits!” Nyssa beckoned him as they entered the room. She was sitting down on a wooden bench and plucking biscuit after biscuit from the plate that sat on a table in front of her. Kirsty was nowhere in sight. Jamie and him sat down next to her and the Doctor reached for a biscuit.
He felt a hand rest gently on his forearm. Still unused to it, he instinctively turned in his direction, but found Jamie also reaching out with his other hand for a sweet, not paying attention to what or who he was holding onto. He turned back to Nyssa and noticed her grinning.
“So, are you going to introduce me any time soon?”
The Doctor startled, realizing he in fact hasn't made any effort to.
“Right, sorry. Nyssa, this is my old friend Jamie McCrimmon. Jamie, this is Nyssa of Traken.”
“Traken? Is that somewhere on Earth?” Jamie asked.
“No, no, it was a planet in the system Mettula Orionsis,” Nyssa explained.
“Oh, aye,” said Jamie. “Was?”
Nyssa waved it off. “It's a long story. Traken was destroyed, but my home is now where the Doctor is.”
Jamie smiled. “I ken what you mean.”
A comfortable silence filled the room as the three munched on the biscuits, which were getting scarcer by the minute.
“Did you seriou–”
“Why’d you cha–”
Both the Doctor and Jamie started speaking at the same time. They stopped and laughed it off. The Doctor shook his head to spur Jamie on so he'd speak first.
“Why’d you change yer face?” Jamie asked.
The Doctor gaped. “Haven't I told you about regeneration?”
“I suppose Polly once told me that when they met you with Ben you were really old and weak and suddenly got renewed, but I think I took it in a more.. uhh, metaphorical way.”
“Don't worry, I didn't really fully get it either, ‘till I actually saw it happen.” Nyssa assured.
“You saw it happen?”
“Yeah, when he turned into him,” she pointed with her chin at the Doctor. The Doctor frowned.
“How does it work, then?”
“You see, Jamie, when a Time Lord’s body gets too old, fatally injured or deadly ill, we have this biological mechanism, which allows us to undergo a biogenic metamorphic process which prevents us from dying by rewriting our genetic– I've gone too technical, haven't I?” he interjected as he noticed Jamie's confusion etched on his features.
“Basically, Time Lord bodies have the ability to change the person's face, body and personality to avoid death,” Nyssa explained.
“Thank you, Nyssa.” Jamie said and pointedly smirked at the Doctor. “So?”
“So…” the Doctor started. “If you mean why I regenerated from the body you knew me in, it's because the Time Lord's sent me on exile and force-regenerated me for my crimes after they sent you and Zoe away. Then I changed a couple of times after that and here I am now.”
“Such cruelty from yer own people..” Jamie murmured. “Och, an’ what did you want tae say earlier?”
The Doctor chuckled. “I just wanted to ask if you named your son after the Brigadier.”
Jamie blinked then grinned. “Aye, I did. It was either him or he'd be named Doctor McCrimmon an’ his life would be rather awkward.”
Kirsty appeared in the room, apparently coming from the kitchen judging by the fresh plate of biscuits in her hands. She walked over to the table and set down the plate.
“Or if you ever got a doctorate,” the Doctor added.
“Now, will someone tell me what's goin’ on ‘ere?” came a voice from behind them and when they collectively turned, they were met with Alistair, standing with his hands on his hips and a confused look.
“I already told you, da.” Kirsty started with annoyance in her voice. “The Doctor from grandad's stories is real an’ he came by to see him.”
“Ye expect me to believe the man from the stars is sittin’ in oor house?”
“But he is!” Kirsty affirmed.
“Why'd ye come then?” Alistair asked the Doctor.
The Doctor looked at him quizzically, having for a second actually forgotten why they're here. He cleared his throat.
“Oh yes, right. Well, we've got a bit of trouble with the TARDIS actually, but I don't suspect you've got any mercury to spare?”
“Mercury?” repeated Alistair.
Jamie laughed. “No, I don't think so, Doctor.”
The Doctor ran his hand over his face. “Right,” he sighed.
Nyssa put a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it in comfort. “What are we going to do now, Doctor?”
“Didn't you store some in that wee room right next to the uh, I think it was a sauna?” Jamie asked, placing his hand on the Doctor's shoulder too.
“We have a sauna?!” Nyssa gasped.
The Doctor, still in thought and rubbing his face, replied after a few beats of silence. “No… I think I jettisoned it accidentally some time ago.”
“The mercury?” asked Jamie.
“No, the sauna. But the mercury…” he paused again. Suddenly, the Doctor stood up and crossed the room. He turned on his heel towards everyone and with a sharp look huffed. “I'm not sure.” The Doctor pulled out his hat, quickly hurried out of the room and soon the walls rattled as the door shut.
Everyone exchanged a quiet confused look.
“Doctor, wait!” Nyssa shouted and she too stormed off after him.
Alistair huffed and walked off with disinterest as Kirsty sat down next to Jamie and nudged his shoulder. “Go on, grandad. Go after ‘im.”
He leaned towards her with a smile and shook his head. “No, dear, I’m afraid it's no longer for me. I’m gettin’ on. An’ I've got all of ye to look after.” he ruffled her hair affectionately.
Kirsty frowned. “But ye've been tellin’ my whole life – yer whole life – yer memories of that man. You cannae let ‘im leave again, jus’ like that! Please. Go,” she said with conviction.
Jamie smiled sadly, with a thoughtful expression. “I–”
***
The Doctor’s run soon turned into a slow jog in the woods and Nyssa caught up to him. He was gripping his hat, but not putting it on.
“So you think we've still got some mercury in some long-forgotten room in the TARDIS?”
The Doctor glanced at her then back at the ground in front of his feet. “That's the hope.”
She nodded then looked around them. “Do you know if we're going the right way?”
He scoffed. “I always had a great sense of direction.”
“Doctor,” she grabbed his elbow. “Slow down, will you?” He stopped and looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed. She continued. “We both know you always had a terrible sense of direction.”
He rolled his eyes.
“What's the hurry? It's not like while we're gone it will suddenly get jettisoned, if it hasn't gotten already.” she paused intentionally. “And what about Jamie?”
He looked genuinely surprised as if he had forgotten he existed. Or at least tried to forget. “What about him?”
“You can't just up and go after leaving the man hanging for god only knows how many years!”
“45…” he muttered with indignation. Nyssa put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. “There's nothing else to do though. He's got a life here, what kind of a person I'd be to try and take that away from him? The Time Lord's might have been even right to take him away from me, he'd only get hurt if he stayed. Look at what happened with…” he trailed off.
“Adric?” she finished for him.
“Adric.”
She looked at him sympathetically for a second. Then, “Don't do that, Doctor. Self-deprication doesn't suit you.”
He looked up with surprise.
“Kirsty said something about the battle of Culloden. You saved him, Doctor. You can't possibly think it'd be for the better if you haven't met and invited him onboard. Jamie clearly doesn't think that, what with the way he talked about you for so long. And I think Adric didn’t regret it either. I know I don't.”
The Doctor gave her a wry smile. “I appreciate it, Nyssa, but..”
She audibly exhaled and pulled on his elbow to get them walking again. He followed like a sheep with a shepherd.
“Alright. We'll go to the TARDIS and look for the mercury. But we're not moving the TARDIS anywhere, so don't even think about it. If we find it, we'll go back to the cottage and you're going to talk to Jamie and we'll find out what he thinks. If we don't find it, then we'll go back anyway to possibly brainstorm a solution. Does that sound alright?”
The Doctor chuckled. “Yes, ma'am.”
Nyssa snickered. “Good!”
“Try not to get lost,” the Doctor pleaded as they stood at the point where multiple corridors crossed paths, somewhere in the TARDIS.
Nyssa nodded. “You too, Doctor.”
He handed her a glowing blue watch. “If I don't see you in two hours, TARDIS time,” he tapped at its screen, “in the console room, then I'm sending out the bloodhounds.”
She chuckled. “Not if I don't see you first.”
And they parted ways.
***
“Another library?” Nyssa awed out loud.
It was the third one she had seen so far in her search. This one was a bit on the smaller side (which meant absolutely nothing on a ship of this size) and it looked rarely used. Nyssa walked in and skimmed some books with her fingers while passing them by. She plucked one out and looked it over.
‘500 Year Diary’ she read on the cover of the surprisingly thin, brown-ish book. Seeing as there was no author, it must have belonged to the Doctor.
“Interesting,” said Nyssa and put it back.
***
The Doctor found himself in his old neo-Victorian styled console room, the wooden texture of every surface and the railings bringing back memories.
He put his hands on the small console and looked it over. He was reminded of the time he tried to explain the TARDIS’ transdimensional interior to Leela. Or when he said goodbye to dear Sarah.
He's never going to experience that time again, those people. Time Lords have such long lifespans, yet he always spends so little of them with the people he loves. And he rarely sees them again after they bow out from their adventures with him.
And now… now he got a chance. And it happens to be the most miraculous chance there is. He never visited because that's not how he does things, but it was simultaneously fueled by the assumption that there'd be no point. And he was wrong. So wrong.
Now he has the chance to spend more time with Jamie, to make up for what could have been if he never got put on trial, if Jamie was never sent away. How could be so stupid to try and leave the man he–
The exterior wooden door of the TARDIS opened slowly, creaking like it always did.
“Doctor?” a man with a heavy accent spoke.
The Doctor's eyes shot up and his hearts sped up.
“Jamie?” he asked as the baffled Scot entered the TARDIS.
“What happened to the console room?” Jamie inquired as he took the interior in. “I remember it bein’ more white. Or am I jus’ growin’ senile?”
“Oh! No, no, that console room still exists. This is just a spare.” The Doctor explained and put his hands in his pockets. Jamie slowly approached him.
“Then why are we here? An’ have ye found the mercury yet?”
“No, Nyssa and I are actually in the middle of the search. I just happened to stumble in here and the TARDIS thought it appropriate to let you in through this door, I suppose.” said the Doctor while observing the console. “Why did you come, then?”
“I dinnae want you tae leave.” Jamie confessed without hesitation.
The Doctor didn't look up, but spoke with a light voice. “I'm not leaving, not yet.”
“Och, but I dinnae ken that, did I? Ye’re always movin’ so fast, I thought ye might have already left.”
The Doctor looked up with a sour look. “Jamie–”
Jamie lifted a hand. “I ken I’m jus’ an old man now, but I wanted to help out, like in the old days. If you'll have me.”
The Doctor couldn't help but smile. “Of course. The more pairs of eyes, the better.”
The Highlander walked past him and held the door open. “Come on, then.”
The two now wandered together, entering room after room.
“I don’t suppose my room is still around?” Jamie queried after stumbling upon Tegan's bedroom.
“I don't know. Only the TARDIS knows. The old girl could be keeping it around somewhere.”
“Oh, aye.” Jamie mumbled non-committally. The silence after that felt a bit charged for some reason. Soon the Doctor found out why.
“Why did you never come back?”
The Doctor looked him in the eye and saw Jamie's cheeks redden.
“I thought you'd forgotten me. I told you.”
“You could've visited! When I arrived back, I still had the memory of you helpin’ in Culloden. I would've known who you were and maybe the other memories would've come back tae me earlier.”
They stopped walking.
“Yes, maybe, but I had no way of knowing that.” The Doctor defended. “And you know I don't do that. Visit. I'm not made for it. But don't think for a second I ever forgot you.”
“I thought about you my whole life, Doctor.” Jamie lamented, slowly losing the thread of the conversation. “You were there in every dream I dreamt, every time I saw someone with black hair, every time someone laughed I got reminded of yers. Doctor, I–”
“I– I can't, love. You dinnae understand.” Jamie said.
Kirsty grimaced. “Why can't you go with him if you want to? I dinnae mind you going; I’m sure da wouldn't either!”
Jamie embraced her, playing with her hair. “Y’see, the TARDIS isn't a terribly reliable machine, which means I might return in yer perspective a day later, or 50 years later. Or even never. Life with the Doctor.. was one of the best experiences of my life, but that was before I had a family an’ I was admittedly more agile. Even though I.. I love him, I’m not sure if I won't die out there an’ I might never see ye all again.”
Kirsty smiled with surprise. “You love him?”
Jamie exhaled sharply. “I–”
“Doctor, I love you.”
“I love him, yes.” he said, annoyed that that was presumably her only takeaway.
“In the same way you loved nan?” Kirsty inquired with an interested gleam in her eyes. Jamie nodded shyly.
“Then I say you do it anyway! Da’s all grown-up an’ so are aunt Polly and Zoe. An’ Am sure aunt Victoria and uncle Ben will manage somehow.”
Jamie smiled. “You’ll jus’ have tae take care of ‘em for me, then.”
Kirsty, bursting with energy, disentangled herself from him. “Aye, I'll come up with a really great excuse, explaining where you've gone!”
“Am sure you will, dear.” he stood up with determination. “Thank you.”
Jamie blinked as he realized what he just confessed and after so many years, he was embarrassed to find he was blushing.
“You do?” the Doctor uttered, his face a mix of emotions that Jamie couldn't detangle. He's been out of practice for too long. He looked down, worrying a fraying end of his kilt
“Aye, but not in a way I love, uh, a newly knit kilt, or a warm sun after a period of heavy rain. I- uh, I fancy you. I–”
He was interrupted by a hand on his neck and soft lips on his own, pressing firmly enough to shut him up. His wide eyes shot up and he saw the Doctor standing right in front of the tip of his nose, his eyes closed shut. So he closed his eyes too and returned the kiss, his hand naturally travelling to rest on the Doctor's arm gently. Like it always did.
It was a chaste enough kiss and he's had millions of them in his lifetime, but despite that, his legs slightly gave out and he pushed himself onto the Doctor which made them stumble backwards and the Doctor's back hit the corridor wall.
The Doctor grunted on impact into his mouth and Jamie couldn't help but want to kiss the hurt away, so he licked the Doctor's lips and deepened the kiss. After a few moments of snogging, they both started to smile too widely to be able to continue so they broke apart.
“We could've been doin’ that decades ago.” Jamie breathed.
“Centuries,” corrected the Doctor.
“Back when we were the same height,” joked Jamie.
“A real loss,” the Doctor assured, laughing. Then his mouth settled into the warmest smile he could offer. “Jamie?”
“Aye?”
“I love you, too. Way more than kilts and the sun.”
Jamie shot him back an equally love-sick smile and they unglued themselves from the wall. They started walking down the corridor again.
“Sure you say that, but once you wear a new kilt and gaze at the long awaited sun..”
“You're right. I'll have to rethink my decision.” The Doctor nodded with a serious face.
Jamie reached out his hand and the Doctor took it, weaving his fingers in between Jamie's and he tightened his grip, swinging their hands back and forth.
Nyssa's stomach grumbled as she passed through another asylum-white corridor that looked exactly the same as the one right before it and probably the one that will be right after it.
She opened a door and found herself, thank the Keeper, in a kitchen. It was a different one from their usual where they prepared food in, but at the moment she was too blissed out to notice or care as she approached the fridge and found it miraculously full. She vowed to herself to be nicer to the TARDIS in the future.
Nyssa opened the cupboard, but in it she found a pile of boxes sitting on top of each other, almost reaching the ceiling. She grabbed the one off the top and peered inside.
Inside, there were at least 12 vials of what she suspected must have been – mercury.
“What the–!!” she exclaimed.
She reached for another box and another, pulling them open and in fact finding even more of the Highly-Demanded Substance of the Hour. She rested her head in her hands as she leaned on the kitchen counter, sighing with disbelief.
With one eye pressed into her palm, she glanced with the other at her wrist – her two hours were almost up. She groaned.
Standing fully back up, Nyssa prepared herself quickly a sandwich, then gathered as many vials of mercury as she could fit inside of one box, closed it up and proceeded to carry it out.
Now, if only she could find her way back.
***
“It’s a cricket outfit Jamie, you wouldn't understand.”
“Aye, but I’m jus’ nae sure anyone on Earth wears a stick of celery on their coat.”
“Yes, well, that's just a personal touch. You see, the celery actually detects any possible dangerous gasses that I could be allergic to, and– Oh, splendid!” The Doctor announced as he and Jamie arrived at the proper console room. “What did I tell you?”
Jamie detached himself from the Doctor as he walked up to the console and spread his palms on the surface. “That's more like it. But it's still different, Doctor, we didn't have so many buttons!” He looked around the room with narrowed eyes.
“An’ where did the wee screen go?”
The Doctor crossed his arms behind his back and approached the console. “Oh, it's still there Jamie, it just grew a bit in your absence.” He explained as he pressed a button and the screen on the wall came to life, revealing now a darker looking Scotland.
“But– look at the size of that thing, Doctor!”
“Yes Jamie, and it's definitely a big improvement too, I should think. It's better to not strain your eyes.”
“What are ya, some kind of doctor?” Jamie snickered.
“Doctor?”
Both Jamie and the Doctor startled as Nyssa entered the room. She put down the box on the floor and supported herself with her hands on her thighs as she took a breath.
“Add that to the list of things that we need to bring closer to the console room.”
“Nyssa!” The Doctor hurried to her side. “I was getting worried. Is that the mercury?”
She grinned. “Yes. I can't believe I actually found it. The TARDIS must have been really bored because I found it not behind a normal door, but inside of a cupboard, in a kitchen.”
“I'm grateful, Nyssa.” the Doctor told her proudly.
“What's Jamie doing here?” she asked.
“Oh, I jus’–” Jamie started.
“He's coming with us.” the Doctor declared.
Nyssa gripped the Doctor's forearm and beamed at him, reflecting his own underplayed enthusiasm. “Really?!”
“I, I mean if it's nae too much of a–” Jamie tried, but Nyssa ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him. He returned it with a daze.
“Oh, we'd love to have you! Wouldn't we, Doctor?” she asked and turned her head towards him.
“Love to, yes.” he said with a crooked smile.
“Then I'll take ye up on that offer!” Jamie affirmed.
“But what about your family?” asked the Doctor, coming up to him to touch his back. Nyssa's eyes didn't miss the movement.
“I’ll miss them, sure, but I’ve got evry’hing sorted out. Me and Kirsty made a promise. Besides, I've spent too much of my life thinkin’ of what was and what could've been, and I'm tired of it. I’m satisfied with what I've achieved, but now that I've got you back, I feel like I couldn't possibly belong anywhere else but right here with ye.”
“Alright,” the Doctor said, smiling at the both of them. “I'm all right with that. Nyssa?”
“The more the merrier,” she replied.
“I hope you've got a little more control over the TARDIS now, Doctor. What with the ‘centuries’ gone by an’ all,” Jamie commented.
“My dear, are you suggesting I ever had less than satisfactory control over my own beloved ship?” the Doctor gasped dramatically.
“I wouldn't dare, Doctor.”