Chapter Text
Colossus III is incredibly quiet when I land. I open the doors and peek out slowly, checking my surroundings. I’m definitely underground in some sort of base. I’m in a small storage room, though, so hopefully no one will notice the TARDIS. I go back inside and head to the wardrobe to change… I want to look my best. A bit of Sandshoes’ vanity leaked into me during regeneration, but it’s not just that. I don’t know how long it’s been for Jade since she’s seen me. I just want her to feel safe, like she’s with someone she trusts.
I put on a fresh outfit and my favorite velvet coat and matching bow tie. Bow ties are cool. Somewhere in New York City, Amelia Pond just cringed. The planet is still on alert, even today, so I also put on a watch that reflects light and atoms and… it’s an invisibility watch. I set the TARDIS to invisibility mode as well and leave quietly. I have my screwdriver set to locate human DNA, and if I’m right, Jade West is the only human on this planet. It should be easy enough to find her.
Carefully yet quickly maneuvering through the sea of people, I anxiously wait for the sonic to go off. I think I’ve only been walking for a few minutes but it feels like years. Time is weird for me lately. A week feels like six months and the six months I actually lived felt like decades. Time went so slowly without her. It goes slower when you’re alone, sitting in silence and talking to yourself.
After going through at least five different doors and passing hundreds of citizens, I finally get a hit on the sonic. The timid beeping increases a bit and I follow the direction it’s telling me to go in, my hearts beating faster than usual. I come to a large door and the sonic makes a rapid beeping noise before a long, single tone. Bingo. I unlock the door with the screwdriver, and then I put it away. The door slides open to a room with about thirty people in it. There are a few families, some children, no one I recognize.
I think the sonic gave me a false positive. Sadly, I give the room one last once-over and turn to walk out. Then I hear it… a laugh. The most beautiful laugh I’ve ever heard. I look back around and study every face in the room until I find her. She looks different… but it’s her. Her hair is now jet black and longer than before, styled into an intricate braid going down her back. She has a vine-like design painted on her cheeks, going down her neck, shoulders, and chest. She’s even dressed in Colossus III’s typical attire.
Jade looks so radiant, I see two suns in her eyes.
She’s sitting with Imogen and her children, the family we helped when we first got here. Imogen looks happier than she did before and her children have grown a lot. I start to worry how long I’ve been gone. Jade seems fully immersed in the culture and while it relieves me she’s not in a jail cell or dead, it makes me wonder if she’s even going to want to leave.
Well, I won’t know until I ask.
I look around the room for somewhere, anywhere, I can be with her alone and see a small storage closet similar to the one I parked the TARDIS in. I gently step around the people in the room and slip into the closet. Rummaging through some of the boxes, I find a round blue fruit and open the door a tad, rolling the fruit towards Jade. It bumps her leg and she looks right at me, and even though she can’t see me, I still smile. I head back into the closet and wait for her to come in, and when she does, I shut the door and turn on the light.
“Hello?” She asks softly. I shakily disable the invisibility watch and see her eyes widen. She seems like she’s quite literally been rendered speechless. I want to say so much, I want to hear her say so much, but I honestly don’t know what I’m going to get. I put my hands together behind my back and inhale slowly. “It’s you.”
“You remember me, that’s good,” I say far too nonchalantly. “You… you do remember me, right?”
“You’re the Doctor,” Jade says quietly. “I could never forget you.” I unfold my hands and rest them at my sides. “You left me.” Jade’s voice starts to break and I take a half step towards her, but she stumbles backwards.
“Jade, please…”
“I thought I was never gonna see you again! I waited for you!”
“Jade, I am… I am so sorry. I couldn’t come back. The planet’s defenses were too strong, you have to understand, I wanted to!” I walk towards her again and take her shoulders in my hands. It burns like a thousand supernovas in the best possible way. This is the first time I’ve touched her in six months.
“Why did you leave me?!” Jade’s eyes start to water and I don’t know what to do. Everything I feared would happen is happening. I’m living my worst expectation.
“I didn’t want to. I swear. Every day, I thought of you. Look, Jade. Look.” I briefly let go of her shoulders and pull her necklace out from under my shirt. Her eyes dart to it and then back to me. “Every day for the past six months, I relived how… how dreadful it was leaving you that day. It’s the most guilt I’ve felt in a long time. Please, I… I don’t know what else to say.” Jade furrows her eyebrows and I watch her intently as she reaches her hand out and grazes it on my cheek. Her shivering hand is a combination of fire and ice on my skin.
“Doctor,” Jade whispers, voice still trembling. “My Doctor. I missed you so fucking much.” I let out a sigh of relief, joy, and sadness all at once as I pull her into a tight embrace.
Jade throws her arms around my neck and she clutches me like her life depends on it. One of my hands slides around her waist with painful familiarity and I tangle my other hand in her hair, holding her close to me. Nothing else in the universe matters at this moment. I’m more at peace than I’ve been in months and hearing her soft cries as she buries her face into my neck is bliss. I never want to let her go again. After a long embrace, I part with her and look down at her, her face inches from mine. I cup her face in both of my hands and watch her watch me, eyes red and watery but still green and bright as ever. I kiss her forehead sweetly and grin.
“Your flame is still burning.” Jade grins victoriously and laughs. I laugh with her.
“You got my letter!”
“Of course I got your letter,” Jade and I let go of each other and even though we’re only a foot apart, I hear the universe sigh in disappointment. “You didn’t date it. How long have you been on Colossus III, Jade?”
“Doctor, that doesn’t matter,” she says.
“It does to me. How long?”
“Thirteen months. Well, Earth months. I made a calendar and a sort of twenty-four hour clock thing.” My legs weaken as she speaks. More than a year. More than a year, Doctor, you blithering idiot.
“Over a year?” I ask, softly. “So, you’re… You’re twenty, now.”
“Yeah. A year without you. I never realized…”
“Realized what?”
“Oh, don’t make me say it.” Jade crosses her arms.
“Say what?”
“Doctor!”
“Jade!”
“I never realized how special you were to me, okay? God. I sound like… I don’t even know what I sound like, alright, but I didn’t realize how incredibly fucking important you were until you weren’t there.” Jade exhales sharply and wipes her makeup with her sleeves. I let out a breathy laugh and she chuckles slightly.
“Well, you never have to worry about that again,” I respond. I straighten my bow tie and hold my hand out. She looks at me warily. “Oh, please, don’t even argue.”
Jade glances at my hand and then at me. She takes a deep breath and smiles hugely. I grin as she takes my hand and my hearts nearly stop beating. I pull her into another hug and when I let go and see her face, she seems sad again. I tilt her chin up with my finger and frown.
“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” I ask her quietly.
“It’s just… Imogen. And Silas and Mason. They took me in and protected me when I had nothing. I would’ve died if not for them, and it just feels wrong to leave them here on this corrupt planet.” Jade is upset, and of course that means I’m upset as well, but she has so much passion and care for these people and the citizens of Colossus III, it makes me fall in love with her a little more. If that’s even possible. Of course it is, Doctor, don’t be ridiculous.
“Well, I know of a planet two whole systems away where Imogen and her children could be safe, and the population is very blended, so they wouldn’t really have trouble fitting in. I could give them translators and set them up with a place to live--”
“So, do it!” Jade cuts me off excitedly.
“It’d be entirely up to them. Corrupt planet or not, if they don’t want to leave their home planet, you’d have to understand.” I respond.
“Yeah, definitely. Um, she’s actually probably wondering why the hell I’ve been in this closet for so long, so…” Jade quirks an eyebrow.
“Right. Yes. Of course. I’ll just wait here.” I say timidly. I sit down on a large box and watch Jade leave. About ten long and boring minutes pass before she finally comes back, shutting the door behind her. I stand up quickly and flatten my coat. “Well? What did she say?”
“She doesn’t want to leave. Silas and Mason are already so accustomed to Colossus III; it’d break their hearts if they had to leave.” Jade pouts and sighs heavily, but regains her composure momentarily. “Doctor…” I hold my hands up and clear my throat.
“It’s okay. I know you feel like… like you owe them, and you’re obliged to help them and stay with them. I… I understand completely.”
“What are you talking about?” Jade asks, a sly grin growing on her face. “I’m coming with you, you absolute moron!”
“Oh. Oh! Well, then!” I go to her, picking her up and spinning her around in a tight hug. “Let’s get going. I want to get the TARDIS out of here before the solar storm hits.”
“Okay! Wait, wait, what if someone sees you? People are sort of… used to me, but to them, you’re still public enemy number three.” Jade says, eyes wide.
“I’ve got this, this thing – this invisibility watch – number three? Who are public enemies one and two?”
“It’s not a competition, Doctor.”
“Right. ‘Course not.” I squint and shrug it off. I’ll find out later because it is absolutely a competition. I turn my watch on and hold Jade’s hand gently. “I’ll lead the way back to the TARDIS. Don’t let go of my hand. Act casual and natural.” Jade giggles and I roll my eyes, which she obviously can’t see, but still. “What?”
“It’s funny how I can hear you but not see you. Invisibility watch. I thought you ran out of ways to impress me.”
I squeeze Jade’s hand lightly and carefully leave the closet with her right beside me. I walk her out of the room and past the crowds of people as quickly yet delicately as I can. I can’t wait to get the hell off of this planet. When we finally reach the storage closet I landed in, I lock the door behind us and turn my watch off. We hurry into the TARDIS and I take off as fast as possible. The engines groan and wheeze and Jade laughs happily. I look ‘round and see her smiling and in that moment, I’m filled with pride. I did it; I am the Doctor and I found my lost girl.
Jade runs up to the console and strokes it softly, gazing up at it. The TARDIS hums in response. When we land, I triple check the scanners to make sure we’re out of the Due Soli system, and I’m pleased with the result. I swing the monitor away from Jade’s peering eyes and she groans irritatingly. Never knew how much I missed that.
“Where are we?” Jade begs.
“Go and have a look.” I snap my fingers and the TARDIS doors swing open with a faint creak. I follow Jade outside and close the doors behind me. We both stare at the place across the street and she grips my hand so tight it could possibly break. I wouldn’t care if it did. “Earth. The year 2012. It’s been, ooh, about… three weeks since the day we met. You’re a little older than you should be and you’ve still got a couple of months of school to finish, but if you go over there and talk to your friends sitting at that table, you will save them from all from decades of grief. I’ve checked with the TARDIS. This moment, your life, your friends’ lives… they’re in flux. Nothing is fixed. You can be with them again and they won’t die mourning you. Jade…” I turn to her, taking her face in my hands again. “I want you… to, er, travel with me, more than I’ve wanted anything.”
“So let me stay with you. Please, Doctor. I spent too long missing you to live another day without you.” Jade responds softly, tears welling in her eyes. I take my hands down and tilt my head in confusion.
“Who said anything about not letting you stay with me?”
“What?”
“I just… You can pop over and say hello! Go say hi to your mum; catch up on your homework… I’ll come and get you on certain days but you can still sort of live here.” I laugh lightly and smirk down at her as she smiles, wiping a couple of stray tears.
“You fucking scared me! I thought you were ditching me.” Jade laughs. “Thank you, Doctor. For saving me, for taking me home. For everything.”
Jade pushes herself up on her toes and kisses my cheek. Somewhere in the universe a star just exploded. She smiles at me before crossing the street carefully. I lean against the TARDIS and watch her go through the gate surrounding Hollywood Arts and approach her friends. They seem happy to see her and she looks over at me. There’s something in her eyes I can’t quite put my finger on. She seems happy, though. Quite right.
I head back into the TARDIS and take my coat off lazily, hanging it on the railing. I fiddle with a couple of buttons and grip the console. I stand there for a moment, wondering who to thank for this miracle. I hear the doors fling open and turn around abruptly. Jade’s burst in and as she stares at me, she snaps her fingers, the doors shutting just as quickly. I lean back against the console and look at her curiously.
“What’s the matter? Did you forget something?” I ask as she hurries over to me.
“Yeah. I did.”
In an instant, Jade is in front of me, her hands gripping my face and her lips smashed against mine. I don’t really quite know what to do but I like where this is going so I act on instinct and hold her waist with my hands. I kiss back and I can feel her smiling against my lips. When she pulls away, her cheeks are flushed pink and somehow I get the feeling mine are as well. I clear my throat and widen my eyes, still sort of processing what’s just happened.
“Jade--”
“Shut up. Doctor, please, for once, just… shut up.” Jade is grinning obscenely but I still don’t really know what’s going on.
“I’m – I’m not – I’m getting some mixed signals here--”
“I want nothing more than to be with you, so, just… stop talking and press a button and take me somewhere amazing.”
“Jade West, are you asking me to run away with you?” I ask, my hands still lingering on her waist.
“Yes! Why the hell not? Come on. Let’s run away. Together.” Jade smiles and I smile back. I reach behind me and pull a lever, causing the TARDIS to groan almost happily.
“Together.”
I’m the Doctor. I’m over a thousand years old. Not a lot of things are easy. The universe has dealt me a difficult hand and many things in life are complicated and vast and impossible. Sometimes all you have is pain and hell and sadness. But being here in my TARDIS and watching Jade run around the console room, laughing and grinning, is the closest thing to paradise I think I’ll ever know.