Geronimo

Chapter Eight ~ The Man Who Forgets {The Doctor}

As I step back into the TARDIS, I let out a deep sigh. Will this really work? I call myself The Doctor and everyone immediately falls into line and listens to me, but The Doctor is simply a title, a promise I made for myself. It, by no means, means that I am technically qualified to deal at the task at hand.

Never cruel or cowardly; never give up, never give in. That was the promise I made to myself all those years ago, and every time I break this promise ... I choose to forget. I am the man who regrets, the man who forgets.

As I am drawn in closer and closer to my dear Jemma, I know that I am, once again, breaking my promise. I am giving in, giving into myself and my own feelings, my feelings for her.

I know, we both know, that she will never truly be safe, but I cannot help myself. I want to impress her, I want her to love me, I want to be entirely hers. I live for the sparkle she gets in her eyes whenever we save a life, I hold her when that person was not so lucky.

I also know that with every journey, more and more people are beginning to recognize her, and as hard as it is to admit, more and more people are labeling her as their next target. For as long as I can remember, my companions have suffered more than anyone in all of time and space. The monsters in the universe wish with all their blackened hearts to destroy me, but they also want to break me, and they have learned the best way to do this is through my precious companions. They will stop at nothing, they will always return for me ... no matter how much and how far I run.

So as I methodically pour the plastic into a vial containing my own DNA, I cannot help but wonder if this will be our last adventure. I've already put her in so much danger, how much can she endure?

I am the man who forgets, but there are some things I will never be able to ignore. Losing Jemma would kill me, break me, shatter me into a billion unsortable pieces. Then why do I continue to do this?

Most things in my life I do just for the hell of it, never thinking about the consequences. But where has that gotten me? Just in between my past regeneration and now, I have lost five of the people I care about the most, forever: my dear Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, Rory - what have my careless actions done to these irreplaceable, perfect people? Rose waited for me, Martha turned cold and hard, Donna doesn't remember, and Amy and Rory are lost forever in an alternate time stream. I have to change - this last adventure, one more chance, I better make it a good one.

I let out a small laugh and a quiet "geronimo" as I flip the switch residing next to the mixture sitting next to me. I gasp and grab my hearts as I can feel my entire being leave me. My entire body shakes as the world slowly turns black. My head smacks down onto the TARDIS floor, and just as I begin to fear that this is it, that something went wrong, my eyes are thrust open, but I seem to have moved.

I smile as I see Jemma staring down at me with a look of concern on her face.

"Well," I say while pushing myself up with a grunt. "That was new."

"Are you okay?" She asks. "Which one are you?"

"Your Doctor," I say as I straighten my bow tie and take her hand. "I'm always okay, I'm the King of Okay," she giggles. " Oh, don't call me that... that's a rubbish title. Are you ready?" She lets out a sigh.

"Ready as I'll ever be," she says as I guide her out the door. We walk down the corridor and out into the foyer. As we begin to exit the building I am startled as someone grabs Jemma's arm and drags us back, I protectivly grab her and pull her body closer to mine. She places her hand on my chest and smile, as if to say that everything is fine.

"Jemma!" The girl standing opposite of us exclaims. "Is this him, is this your boyfriend?" She looks me up and down, and then focuses back in on Jemma. "You said he was funny, you never said he was hot!"

"You never said I was hot?" I take a step forward and extend my arm. "I'm the Doc-," I grimace as Jemma kicks the back of my leg. "I'm John, John Smith." Jemma reaches up and takes my arm.

"He's studying to be a doctor," she says simply. We smile expectingly at the confused looking girl opposite us, she opens her mouth to speak, and I squeeze Jemma's hand.

"We really must be going," Jemma says as we begin to walk away. "John here still needs to meet my parents before the session begins."

"John Smith," she whispers to me once we're out of ear shot. "Couldn't you have been a bit more creative?

"I always use that name," I say definsivly. "Now you on the other hand, Jemma ... confusing, unordianry, suprsingly beautiful -." I am interrupted as I feel a slight buzz coming from my jacket pocket. I pull out my sonic and glance at the side, flipping it open.

"What's wrong," Jemma whispers.

"Alien tech," I say. "We're not alone ... something's wrong ... we're not safe here, none of us are."

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger and short chapter! Thanks for helping me reach 200 reads on this story, and nearly 600 on my other (The Definition of Love), you guys are the best! Please don't forget to vote and comment on this story, I am so much more motivated to write when you guys give me feedback! There are only about 5 or 6 chapters left to write in this FanFic, I've never actually finished a story - so I'm getting super excited! Thanks for staying with me, get ready for a new action packed chapter in a few days, have a great week!