Work Text:
The moment the ship landed, the Doctor burst from the blue doors, barely glancing behind him to see that they latched closed as he sprinted over the high weeds growing among the rubble of buildings destroyed decades ago. This area hadn't been restored yet, but it hardly mattered: he was looking for the housing estate on the current edge of the city.
As he ran, hopping over broken concrete, the old curator's resonant voice still rang in his ears. "Gallifrey falls no more." The planet, his home, survived, and that meant that the Time Lords survived. They hadn't been wiped from existence wherever they stood, because the Moment was never fired. Every few steps, he leapt into the air and whooped.
He raced to a twisted chain-link fence that guarded the steep, gravelly slope down to the estate and, grabbing it, leaned far over to peer at the families in the playground below. He bounced on his toes as he searched, finally spying a young woman with curly black hair, sitting on a bench, watching over three small children playing tag among the play structures. A man who looked old enough to be her grandfather sat with his arm around her, and she leaned her head on his shoulder.
The Doctor leaned back, his eyes bright and proud. "Susan. With your David. As it should be."
He spied a path down from a break in the fence. Spinning on his heel, he turned towards it, then hesitated, looking down at the family again. "You're alive, safe and happy. You're where you should be." Clasping his hands together, he shook his head with some regret. "You don't need your silly old grandfather mucking everything up." Glancing down at them one last time, he murmured, "One day, I… oh, you know."
Content, the Doctor smiled as he strolled back to the TARDIS.