Chapter Text
Sam met the Doctor when he was twelve.
It seemed so coincidental at the time, so happenstance. His dad was away on a hunt somewhere, so he was out in the park, trying to relieve the boredom of a summer of nameless motels and friendless days. Suddenly, he saw a golden retriever come bounding straight at him, an oddly dressed man with a bowtie running after the golden canine. Sam launched himself at the dog as it ran past, careful not to get in the way of teeth or claws. After a brief tussle, he held on to the struggling dog with all the force his body could manage.
"Don't worry, I've got him." He said to the man before turning to the dog.
"It's going to be okay," he cooed quietly in attempt to calm the distraught dog down.
Sam glanced up at the man curiously.
"Is this your dog, sir?"
The man laughed, though it sounded a bit like he'd been crying. Sam dismissed that thought once the man started talking, with a British accent that seemed out of place in Southern Wisconsin.
"I can't believe you got him! He's a big dog, after all. And please, don't call me 'sir'. My name's the Doctor. Usually. Sometimes not."
"Well, the Doctor, that's a weird name. My name's Sam. Sam Winchester." He grinned suddenly. "Usually. Sometimes not."
"Winchester. Isn't that a type of gun? I don't like guns. I mean, I like you, and you'll like me, but guns are nasty, nasty things. Try and avoid them."
Sam snorted. "You'd love my dad."
"Really?"
"I was being sarcastic. He's got a gun collection. Which, by the way, he will use on you if you try to abduct me."
"Why would I-" the Doctor appeared to reconsider. "Fair enough. He won't try to kill me if we just sit and talk, right?"
"As long as you don't try and take me anywhere, we should be fine."
The Doctor plunked himself down next to Sam, stretching out his long legs. He turned to the boy sitting next to him with a smile.
"So, Sam, what do you want to do with your life?"
Sam paused. This was new. No one ever really asked him that. Well, outside of school, which didn't really count. His automatic response was that he wanted to carry on the family business, which to his classmates meant being a mechanic. He'd never thought about it with real effort.
"Well," he began slowly, "I'd like to travel the stars and see things that no one else has." When Sam paused, the Doctor made a little 'go on' gesture. "I'd like to save worlds and galaxies and universes, because there's always someone that needs saving." He laughed, somewhat self conscious.
The Doctor's eyes were alight.
"What if I told you that we could travel the sky and visit planets in different galaxies and save whole civilizations, and all you had to do was come with me in that blue box over there?" The Doctor asked, gesturing to a police box at the end of the park.
"Then I'd be a gullible kid going somewhere with a stranger that didn't even give me candy, and that'd be outside of our 'don't try to take me anywhere' deal."
"To be fair, I'm not trying to abduct you, just trying to show you the entirety of time and space. And as for the candy, there's candy in other universes too. I should know. I've invented some of them."
"Sorry, Doctor, but you're crazy." Sam stood, uncomfortable. The Doctor had been fairly nice for a stranger, and there was something that was compelling about him that Sam just couldn't pin down, but this was crossing the line.
"That's what other people would say if you told them about the monsters."
Sam turned around to face the Doctor again.
"What?"
"The monsters that you and your dad hunt. The life you've always wanted to get away from, and now you can. In my timeline, you already have. See, I can travel through time, and for me, we've already met."
"Time travel is impossible. Even if it wasn't, you could have found out about that some other way. Why should I trust you?"
"One word. The one word you told me to tell you right now."
"And what would that possibly be?"
"Dean."
Sam felt the blood drain from his face. No one knew about Dean except his dad. He wasn't even supposed to know about his brother, the one who had died carrying him out of the fire. He only knew because he'd stolen his dad's journal while his dad was in a drunken coma.
"How... how do you know about him?"
"You told me, Sam. You told me that this is what I said to you when we met. Just look in the box, please. You'll see that I'm not lying."
Sam gave him a suspicious look, then asked, "I can leave whenever I want, right?"
"Of course, but we'll have so much fun, you won't want to."
"That doesn't sound even a little creepy," Sam muttered. He glanced at the Doctor, weighing his options. "One look in that box. If there isn't something in there that makes me believe you, I'm going to scream and leave."
"Of course."
The Doctor bounded to his feet and Sam followed, standing warily. The dog, who had been forgotten during the conversation, whined softly.
"Who does he belong to?" Sam asked.
"The owner should be along soon. At least, according to you."
Sam opened his mouth to ask another question, but before he could start to speak, a harried looking woman ran over to them.
"Hello, is that my dog? I let Riot outside and didn't realize the gate was unlocked until a minute ago."
Sam looked slightly stunned, so the Doctor said, "Yes, I do believe that it is your dog. He's a dear, not a bother at all."
"Oh, thank you! I'm so sorry about all of that." She said, then began to herd the dog back to her house.
Sam turned to the Doctor slowly. "May I see this magical box now?"
The Doctor gave a blinding grin. "After you."
Sam walked over to the blue box unsurely. He was either making the stupidest decision of his life, or the best. He really hoped it was the latter. Standing in front of the box, he tried to open the door, but to no avail.
The Doctor grinned and said, "Right. Forgot about that." With a snap of his fingers, the door opened.
Sam stepped inside, then stopped in awe at the sight ahead of him.
Coming up behind Sam, the Doctor said, "Told ya."
Taking a few steps into the space ahead of him, Sam grinned suddenly. "It's awesome in here! This kind of reminds me of the time my dad and I faced this witch who had shoved an entire house into one room. Of course, I didn't know about that little detail, since I wasn't exactly conscious when she dragged me in there and anyways, it was just a house. This, though, this is amazing!"
"Glad you think so, Sam." The Doctor was smiling, but instead of the bright grin he had sported previously, it had faded to a sad and nostalgic smile. Sam didn't notice, still absorbed in the beautiful machine.
"You said you could take me to other planets. Does that mean there are aliens?" Sam paused, squinting slightly. "Wait. Are you an alien? This doesn't seem like human technology that I've ever seen."
"Guilty. I am an alien. A Time Lord, actually. This beauty is a TARDIS. Stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Basically, it's like a spaceship and time machine combined with a bit of woosh for good measure."
"Woosh?"
"You know, woosh." The Doctor made a little gesture, possibly representing the TARDIS, possibly all of time and space.
"... Right. So, what now? Are we going to go somewhere?"
The Doctor looked a little sheepish. "Well... You didn't actually tell me about what we did next. Where and when do you want to go?"
Sam looked almost giddy at the choice, anywhere and anywhen he wanted! He could go to the moon, to Mars, to beyond the Milky Way. He could go back to the age of dinosaurs or forward to an age of what he assumed would be robots. The decision was endless. A sudden thought struck him, making his smile waver a bit.
"Hey, Doctor, we go on a lot of adventures later, right?" He asked, slightly nervous.
"Yes, all sorts of adventures! However, next time you see me, I won't remember you. This is the last time I'll see you, but the first time you've seen me. So, in a way, this is both our last grand adventure and the first of many to come."
"Oh." Sam paused, lost in thought, a bittersweet expression on his face. "I was wondering if- if we could visit my mom and my brother. Before I was born. I want to see what it was like, what they were like. I'm assuming that we can't save them, because of the paradox. We can't, can we?"
The Doctor's grin faded, and he looked at Sam with eyes full of age and an air of seriousness for the first time since Sam met him.
"No, we can't save them, but we can go see them. I would be honored to take you."