The Littlest Timelord: Outtakes/Deleted Scenes

Never Gonna Be Lonely

A/N - Written for a writing challenge on Tumblr.

"I'm headed to bed," Elise told her father.

The Doctor looked up from what he was doing under the console platform. "Huh?"

"I'm going to bed."

"Okay. Sleep well."

As Elise left him, she could tell something was on his mind. Even though they'd spent well over three hundred years together, there were still times where he'd space out and she could tell his mind was elsewhere. But he never let on as to what was going on.

The Doctor soniced another cable and it sparked. He threw his screwdriver at the wall in frustration and got out of his swing. He didn't even really know what he was doing in the first place. It was just something to keep him occupied during the quiet moments. When it was quiet, his mind had the tendency to stray into dark places.

He shrugged off his jacket and threw it in the jump seat before walking over to the doors of the TARDIS. He opened them and sat down, staring out into space. As calming as it was, it also produced feelings of loneliness. As one of the last living Timelords, the Doctor often felt lonely. Even with his adoptive daughter Elise.

The Doctor hated to be alone, because it meant he thought about his family. The one he had condemned to death on Gallifrey. But every time he looked at Elise, he was reminded that he had also condemned her and her family to the same fate. She'd still be in the Timelock if it wasn't for Rassilon and the other Timelords. He thought about his companions. The ones that had died and the ones who left of their own free will. He didn't know how long he had been sitting there until he heard footsteps.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Elise asked, entering the console room.

The Doctor patted the space next to him and she sat down.

"You've been spacey all day. You gonna tell me what's on your mind?"

"Just thinking," he told her.

"About?"

"My family."

Elise was shocked. Usually he'd make up a lie, but for once he was being honest. "Do you remember what they looked like?" Elise asked.

"Of course." He remembered his children. His grandchildren.

"I don't."

The Doctor looked at her. He expected to see tears in her blue eyes, but there were none.

"I don't remember what my father and mother looked like. I don't remember the sound of my mother's voice. There's just nothing," Elise told him.

She spoke of them in a cold detached manner. Almost as if it had happened to someone else. But he wasn't really surprised. She was four when he met her. Even human children had trouble remembering that far back.

"Do you want to?"

Elise looked at him. "Honestly? No. Not really. It's been, what? Almost 250 years? What would be the point? You and River are my parents now."

"It's always good to remember where you came from."

"As far as I'm concerned, my life started the moment I met you."

The Doctor smiled and kissed her forehead. His life had certainly been improved by her presence. It had been so long since he had been a father, but he loved teaching Elise all that he knew. He was contented with the fact that the Timelords would continue on in some capacity thanks to her, should she ever have children.

"Do you ever wonder what life would have been like? If the Time War had never happened?" Elise asked, "If our families hadn't died?"

"I probably still would have run away. I was too different."

"Maybe we would've met."

"But maybe we wouldn't have."

"That night Amy ran away with you...us. You told her it was because you were lonely."

"I was."

"I can promise you one thing as long as I'm alive, you're never gonna be lonely again."

The Doctor wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissed her head. He would never be lonely again, but she would soon. Because he was on his last regeneration and she had no idea.