[Dimension 1]

It felt like it had been ages since Jennifer had set foot on Earth, her home planet. 

She had met the Doctor when she was trying to write up about alien activity. And their paths crossed on the roof of the mall and then everything was sort of a blur. They did a lot of running and soon she discovered the man was not from Earth but an alien who traveled around in a blue box that happened to be bigger on the inside than the outside. They ended up going back in time to meet a young JK Rowling, they got stuck in a futuristic game show where everyone killed each other, they crash landed into a cave full of murderous statues and they even went undercover at a university to figure out who was controlling the students. And now she was back trying to sort out the mess that had become her life.

Jennifer had been writing about her imagined future with her ex and it had all wrapped up right after she and the Doctor narrowly escaped the Weeping Angels. A man had saved her life and it put things back into perspective. Sure, it was fun to fly around in the TARDIS but she had to remember what she had left behind. Who had left her behind. His name was Andrew and he had just suddenly up and left her without a word. It wasn’t until weeks later that she saw on Facebook of all places that he had moved to Germany without even explaining himself. It sent the brunette into a depressed state and now, over a year later, she was finally feeling more like herself. The passion was back but she felt needed some closure in order to move on and to prove to herself that he wasn’t the one, they didn’t have a future and that there was more in the universe for her.

So she had asked the leather clad alien to take her to Berlin so she could give someone something. It was vague but she didn’t want to bore him with details. If he wanted to know, he would ask or find out sooner or later. Much to her frustration, he ended up taking her a few months into her present when they met, and it was now February 14’th. Jennifer had stalked off to a café and downed a large glass of wine and some chocolate before she gathered up the courage to give Andrew a ring. They agreed to meet at the park nearby and hung up. Jen suddenly felt an avalanche of anxiety overcome her. Was this right? Should she be digging up the past? Did he even still care about her? Was he with someone else? Was that why he moved? She fiddled with her brown hair and looked to the time traveler sitting across from her who was oddly very quiet. “You’re covering the tab for this, it’s the least you can do for picking this particular date in history.” She informed him as she sat back in her chair.

The weather was holding up. The sky over them was overcast but that was the last thing on Jen’s mind. They were outside, the air was light and the traffic was nonexistent. Sitting in front of her was the massive stack of papers she would present to Andrew. It was how she always pictured them, their future wasn’t always rainbows and unicorns but she had written in to be realistic. She had seen them finishing school together and traveling, struggling to make ends meet, laugh, explore, get real jobs, see movies, get promotions, buy a flat together, become temporarily unemployed but still manage, have a family. And yet it was all nothing. It was just words rather than fantasies inside of her head, the ones that had haunted her after he had left. And this was meant to be her saying goodbye and letting go. She didn’t want to but she knew it was for her benefit. He had been selfish and now it was her turn. Perhaps.

Tapping her fingers on the piles of papers, she closed her eyes.

A sense of restlessness welled up inside of her and she decided they should kill some time by checking out the city before having to meet up in an hour. “Come on, I can’t sit here anymore.” She muttered. She grabbed her book and once the man had paid, they headed down the street to do some good old fashioned touring. She tried to take her mind off the impending collision between her and her ex and turned to the Doctor as they walked. “You know, if you want you can go off and do something else while I take care of this.” She said, feeling slightly bad that this might be pointless in his mind. But at the same time, support or company was welcome, no matter how little it was. Her annuity level was steadily climbing and she hadn’t a clue how to feel better. “Is there any sort of alien thing that can just make me not feel for an hour?” She asked him. Sure, alcohol worked on humans but she was already a bit sick from just one glass of red wine.

- - -

[Dimension 2]

The Doctor was one who never liked to stick around, never saw comfort in repetition. He liked adventures, he liked to see new places, meet people and explore places where no one else dared to venture. He also liked having someone around him, he liked being able to share new and sometime frightening experiences. Seeing as he was the last of his kind, he often found himself feeling isolate, alone, almost ignored. But that was why he tried to seek out a companion. Someone he could teach and laugh with, someone who could remind him how good emotions were and how fun life could be. His life was long and there were periods where he didn’t have anyone or where death was all he saw. Those were the darker points of his long life, the war, the agony, the cowardice, everything like that he sought to run away from and forget.

And yet with his current companion, he was able to smile like nothing bad had ever happened.

He had met her by chance on Earth, as he usually found his companions he became so fond of, and enlisted her help to discover that an alien race was integrating itself into the culture. In turn, he decided to have her come along with him. They went to Venice and saved the day, they went to Mars, they even stumbled into the decaying grasps of the Daleks in the middle ages and they even fought off the Slitheen again. And now after all that running around, they were on another adventure but he had hoped that this time, there would be much less danger and more time to catch their breath. Considering how she nearly became a Dalek, he had decided to try and make up for that by taking her back in time to when her parents were just beginning to start a life together.

It was a nice thought, considering her parents were dead in her present timeline. The Doctor hoped that this would cheer her up rather than worsen her mood. It was nearly Christmas as they had stepped out of the TARDIS. By his calculations tomorrow would be Christmas Eve day and he figured it might be possible for Summer to spend some time with her parents while being careful of course. Crossing your own timeline was risky and the last thing that needed to happen was for Summer to inadvertently never be born in the future. It was complicated. Time was wibbly wobbly after all. He was taking a risk by going back in time but since Summer hadn’t been born yet he hoped that nothing would go wrong.

Sadly, in his long lifetime of running, wrong things tended to happen more than the right. He tried his best but he was only a Time Lord. It was a big burden to carry around, something he was reminded of when on Mars. He wanted to change a fixed point in time. He knew it had to happen but he changed it and then something inside of him changed. He changed history but in the big picture, he really hadn’t. He had thought he learned that the laws of time were now his to bend, no one could stop him. But then the doctor he had saved still died but this time by suicide rather than for the protection of Earth. And it was in that moment that he knew he could be dangerous if no one was there to pull him back from the edge of insanity. If Summer hadn’t been there, he was sure he could have ruined more than what had already.

“So we’re here.” He told Summer as they sat down at the small inn in the seaside port town. “And so are your parents.” He commented as tea was placed down between them. It was the beginning of the evening. The sun was just descending down across the ocean. The view from where they sat was lovely. They were out of the cold and enjoying the warmth. He looked down at his tea and frowned a little, “We have to be careful though. Tomorrow is when your parents get engaged.” He mentioned, remembering what she had told him about them but it wasn’t something she brought up often in the short amount of time they had been together. “Clearly for you that is a fixed point in time. It has to happen or there’s no you.” He said. “So we can meet them and chat but we just need to watch we say and do around them.” He knew this was a big opportunity for her and he wanted her to enjoy it.

He was really trying to make her happy, as opposed to scared or angry or worried.