once more for auld lang syne. (for creag_an_tuire)

[not_theman_iwas]

Of course, one of her first acts was to check on Jamie. With her punishment sorted out, her TARDIS was beginning to feel very empty again, and there wasn't much point in thinking wistfully of past days when she could start a new lot of them.

So to speak. Granted, she makes a few accidental stops on the way to pick up some chips and thwart some sort of Auton invasion, but that's just the Doctor for you.

Regardless: Jamie was due a visit, which is why, hopefully, when she steps out the TARDIS this time, it'll be close by. (Or in his home. She was never too good at pinpointing little things to the yard or the century.)

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[creag-an-tuire.livejournal.com]

Jamie McCrimmon was not expecting to be woken up in the middle of the night.

He was even more unprepared to be woken up in the middle of the night by what sounded more or less like somebody treating piano wires very poorly. It was a sound, though, that he would have recognized anywhere, no matter how long it had been, and he bolted out of bed to run in the direction it seemed to be coming from.

Which wasn't very far, all things considered, as the familiar blue box just so happened to be right outside his door.

"Doctor?"

[not-theman-iwas.livejournal.com]

And a very pretty brunette poked her head out the door. "Is that- yes, I thought so."

He gets a rather bright smile, as she steps out properly. "Hello, Jamie."

[creag-an-tuire.livejournal.com]

He half had been expecting the old man in rumpled, houndstooth trousers to come bounding out of the TARDIS. Even though he knows that's not what the Doctor looks like anymore -- not by a long shot -- it's still what he's seen in his mind all these years. There were times when he'd need to remind himself of everything that had happened at the end, because as weird as Daleks and Cybermen and Yetis and flying beasties were, meeting the Time Lords and all that came with it was even stranger.

Especially that bit where the Doctor turned into a lassie, that was simply bizarre.

But she is still the Doctor, so he runs over and gives her the biggest hug anybody could ever hope for. "Doctor, I knew ye'd come back for me!"

[not-theman-iwas.livejournal.com]

(Jamie!hugs were really the best hugs.)

"Did you?" the Doctor said. "I mean, yes, of course you did." She might not've, but... complications. They tended to happen to her even when she was a he, and she was really ridiculously glad to have them back in her life. "How are you? Holding up all right?"

[creag-an-tuire.livejournal.com]

Jamie nods first, but then looks around. Being left in Scotland was certainly better than being left on the moon or in the future or in England or something, but it was still being left. He knew things he wasn't supposed to, and try as he might, things would still slip from time to time. Half of everybody thought he was crazy, and the other half knew he was crazy.

"Aye, well," he says with a bit of a shrug. "It's been a long four years."

[not-theman-iwas.livejournal.com]

"-That long?" she says, a little taken aback. It's better than, say, a few decades, but she thought she'd set the coordinates for earlier than that. She'd have to take a look at the console at some point soon.

With just a touch of concern, "Yes, well. Not been terrible, I hope?"

[creag-an-tuire.livejournal.com]

Hmmn, now that was a good question. Had it been terrible? It depends on one's definition of terrible, he thinks.

On one hand, he did have a decent life. Much like it had been before the Doctor had taken him away. Less threat of him being shipped off in a boat to be a slave somewhere, though the aftermath of that battle was not exactly something Jamie approved of. He was, however, in the process of wooing a bonnie lass, so there was that.

On the other hand, he wasn't traveling with the Doctor.

"It's been sufferable," he admits. "Would have been better if ye had been here."

[not-theman-iwas.livejournal.com]

"Probably," she says.

Beat.

"No one... None of the Time Lords approached you, did they? You've been left to yourself?"

[creag-an-tuire.livejournal.com]

"As far as I know I have been." They sorta all looked like normal humans, he thinks, so if one had been sneaky, or something, he wouldn't have been able to tell.

Jamie scratches the side of his cheek.

"Should they have?"

[not-theman-iwas.livejournal.com]

"-No," she says, a little belatedly, having gotten lost in the labyrinths of her own mind for a moment there. "No, I just wanted to be certain. They were searching for me, after all."

[creag-an-tuire.livejournal.com]

He looks the Doctor up and down, worriedly. She seems okay. Good. "They didna find ye then, did they? Oh, I knew it, I knew ye'd be able to stay away from anything."

[not-theman-iwas.livejournal.com]

"Something like that."

For a moment, she seems far away. And then she snaps back to the present, just as suddenly. "I suppose if it hasn't been too terrible, then you wouldn't want a quick trip in the TARDIS, then?"

Teasing? The Doctor? Surely not!

[creag-an-tuire.livejournal.com]

"Are ye kidding me? I've been waiting on you to come back and get me!"

Because as much as he loved Scotland, it didn't hold a candle to traveling in the TARDIS.


Well, maybe it held a candle, but not a very big candle.

[not-theman-iwas.livejournal.com]

Perhaps a birthday candle, then? Easily blown out in favour of the sugary goodness underneath?

"How soon could you be ready to leave?"

[creag-an-tuire.livejournal.com]

He grins, a little cheekily. "Well, let's see, it'll take me about..."

And then he walks into the TARDIS.

[not-theman-iwas.livejournal.com]

It hasn't changed particularly, luckily for him. Aside from the vaguely musty feeling of disuse that has arisen from the TARDIS's displeasure at being incapacitated for so long, the interior hasn't really changed. There's no reason to mess with perfection, she feels. (There may be a few more curtains around, but that's probably the TARDIS's idea of a joke. Probably.)

And she comes strolling into the TARDIS, tossing her jacket off on a nearby rack and shutting the door firmly behind her. "What are you in the mood for, then? Past, future? Another planet? Maybe a new city, or some place as yet untouched by sentient life?"

[creag-an-tuire.livejournal.com]

Jamie shrugs. It really didn't matter all that much to him.

"Whatever ye feel like."

[not-theman-iwas.livejournal.com]

"Alright, then," she says, flipping levers at random. "I don't know about you, but I've had enough of Earth for a few days - let's have a look at something different."

[creag-an-tuire.livejournal.com]

Jamie grins. "Wherever ye think is best is fine by me."

He then proceeds to get a good grip on the console. It may have been a while, but not so long he's forgotten to hold on when the Doctor is flying the TARDIS.

[not-theman-iwas.livejournal.com]

She'd be utterly appalled at his lack of faith in her ability to fly the TARDIS smoothly if she wasn't so busy holding onto the TARDIS, herself. Luckily, the trip's short, relatively speaking. What's a few thousand years between friends?

or a few million, as the case may be. When the Doctor checks the monitor, it's to see some lovely greenery (or bluery, if we're being strictly accurate) about 3.5 million years into his future. "Looks like we picked a good day to visit."