Just Imagine...

The Doctor Still Thinks of Sam

The Doctor couldn't deny that he'd made a connection with Sam Ryder. Actually, it was more than just a connection. It was a friendship. A bond. To him, Sam almost felt like his child.
He'd met her shortly after the Time War, and after meeting Rose for the first time, when they'd fought the Autons and the Nestene Consciousness.  
As young as Rose had been, Sam was even younger. At only sixteen years old and having just lost her Abuelo, one would think she'd be rather helpless. But she wasn't. She was courageous, strong, brave, and kind. It was her fiery spirit that had helped to heal the Doctor's heavily battle-scarred hearts.
But alas, he'd had to leave her behind for her safety. When Sam had first become The Queen of Hearts, the entire universe had changed, the Doctor had felt it. If she continued jumping from place to place through time, she could've caused irreparable damage, both to herself and to the fabric time, space, and reality.
Sam had unlocked her power before she was ready, and it had almost killed her, and that was the Doctor's fault.
"But I don't wanna leave you!" Sam had cried when the Doctor told her she had to go home, permanently.
"We don't have a choice," the Doctor said, trying to keep his voice steady, "you had so much energy in your body when you transformed, energy you're not strong enough to handle, let alone understand! Not yet at least."
"But why does that mean I can't travel with you anymore?" Sam asked, tears rushing down her face.
"Because some of that energy is still inside you, it always will be. And whenever you go to a different point in time and space, it pulls on the fabric of reality. If it pulls to much, pieces of history could be erased forever. You could be erased forever, Sam!"
Sam had hung her head.
"Sometimes I wanna be erased forever." She mumbled.
"Don't ever say that again!" The Doctor exclaimed, cupping her tear-stained face in his hands and forcing her to look into his eyes, "Sam, you are important. Your life may be all over the place right now, but I've seen how strong you are. You can change the world. You can make people happy. You made me happy."
"I wanna keep making you happy," Sam sniffed, "if I stop traveling with you, you'll be all alone again. Like before. I have my family and friends to go home to, but you... who do you have, Doc?"
"There is someone." The Doctor murmured, and Sam's eyes lit up with faint hope.
"You're not just saying that so I won't be sad?" She asked.
"I'm not."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
Sam stared at him for a moment, then threw her arms around him in a hug.
"Will I ever see you again?" She said.
"I don't know." The Doctor croaked, squeezing her tightly.
"Well if this is the last time we ever hug, let's make it a good one, huh?" Sam laughed tearfully.
"Yeah." The Doctor said, feeling tears in his own eyes. He gently slipped out his sonic screwdriver. He had to erase Sam's memories of becoming The Queen of Hearts. She couldn't know she had so much power inside of her. Not yet.
Fourteen years later, the Doctor had felt that strange sensation of the universe being altered again, but this time it felt right. It felt welcoming. Every atom in the universe was vibrating with an energy so old it didn't even have a name, singing, at an extremely high frequency, a song to welcome the Queen of Hearts into her power once again, and the Doctor was the only one left to feel it.
Well, one of the only ones.
Nova and Stella had been napping when it happened and they both woke up as the universe began to sing. Both toddlers started to cry, disturbed by the odd transformation.
"Something's changed," the Doctor told Rose when she asked what was wrong, "actually, everything has changed."
"What d'you mean?" Rose demanded, cradling Stella as she wailed in distress.
"It's hard to explain," the Doctor murmured, "but the entire universe just shifted, I can feel it. And so can the twins. Even the dark energy is singing, it's connected to an ancient energy that just returned to existence after millions of years being dormant."
"Is that bad?" Rose asked anxiously.
"No, Rose," the Doctor said with a smile, "it's good. It's fantastic."