Birth of a Time Lady

Memory

The more time she spent with the Doctor, the more she grew to like him. He was a peculiar sort of person: the kind who always had an interesting thing to say, but not necessarily a thing people would understand. At best, he was slightly quirky, and at worst, he was downright alien. No pun intended.

She was still getting used to the idea of him being from another planet. He looked human enough. But with everything he had told her, and the few things he had shown her - like the TARDIS, for example - there was no denying the truth. That didn't scare her. Quite the opposite, it excited her. The possibility that there was more to the universe than the quiet planet she had lived on as long as she could remember only made her eager to explore it.

He kept promising to take her, one day. But every time he talked about it, his eyes betrayed that tinge of sadness she had seen when they had met.

Why was he so sad?

One day in particular, a few weeks into their friendship, she waited for him to arrive, tossing an old family pocket watch from hand to hand. She wasn't really paying attention to the motions. She was instead lost in thought, determined to ask him the question she needed answered, and wondering how best to do it.

When she heard the wheezing noise of the TARDIS engines, she smiled to herself, stuffing the pocket watch back inside her robe pocket and rising from the common room's leather sofa. She trotted into the corridor just outside the dungeons as he emerged, hair a mess, with a slight scorch mark in his jacket.

"You're late. And you're a mess," she teased him, leaning against the brick wall. "Get into trouble again, did you?"

"Oh you know me. Trouble always seems to find me," he told her, throwing a smirk her way as he attempted to straighten himself out. "Now, what today, hmm?" He clapped his hands together, and started listing things to do. "Hogsmeade trip? Astronomy tower?"

"Actually I was hoping we could go somewhere," she said, glancing at the TARDIS so there was no mistaking her intentions. "You do keep promising me planets. I want a planet, mister." She kept her tone light, but she was quite serious.

That old, sad look crept into his face again, despite him trying to hide it. "Soon, yes, soon. But does it have to be today? I hear there's a galactic storm brewing somewhere near Alpha Centauri and -"

"Don't dodge," she chided, crossing her arms. "You keep doing this. Why do you keep putting off taking me with you?" She was frowning now, not sure if she would like the answer.

In a rare moment, the Doctor grew serious as well. It took him several seconds of thinking to respond, but when he did, he was unusually quiet.

"You're not the first person I've made that offer to," he told her. "And all the others, they've all gone. Left, or been forced to leave, or... died. Some died," he said with a heavy sigh. He looked directly at her, his eyes fixed on her with a level of intensity that almost made her blush. "You remind me of... someone. She's been gone a very long time now, but I thought, when I saw you, maybe... just maybe..." he shook his head, finishing his own thought. "Silly Doctor."

That answer shocked her into silence. It also emboldened her to step forward and take his hand. "I'm sorry... so sorry. I had no idea. I promise, I'll stop pressing. You don't have to take me anywhere if you don't want to."

He gave a laugh, humorless, but still amused, likely with himself. "That's the problem, you see. I do want you to come. But I shouldn't. It would be too -" just then he seemed to catch a glance of something, and a puzzled expression crossed his face. "Selfish," he finished. Then his eyes darted back to her again, and his voice had renewed energy. "Jane, what's that in your pocket?"

"Huh?" she asked as she blinked, confused. Then, when she looked down, she saw a golden chain had escaped from her robe. "Oh, that," she realized, extracting the chain and the attached watch. "Old family thing. No idea where it came from. Pretty sure it's broken, but it is pretty so - Doctor?"

The Doctor's face had gone white. He was completely focused on the watch now, and even as she waved her hand in front of his face, he barely responded. Instead, he grabbed the watch, holding it up to the light, looking at the symbols and designs etched onto the front.

"Hey!" She jumped up, trying to grab it from his hands, and it started to become a game of keep away.

"Jane, I need you to think. Really think. How long have you had this watch?" he questioned urgently, pressing it back into her hands.

"I - I dunno. I've always had it, I guess. Never really thought about it." Actually, even now as she looked at the watch, it looked different. New somehow. As if she had never looked at it properly before. The thought unnerved her. "Why do you care?" she asked defensively.

"You said it's broken, but I'll bet you've never tried to open it, have you?" He seemed so certain, and he put his hands on her shoulders, holding her in place. "Because I'll bet, if you tried, it would open. So go ahead. Try."

Now she was getting chills. No, she hasn't ever tried, not that she could remember. Still, he couldn't be right.

Could he?

"Doctor, I... I don't know... it's just a watch, it can't mean anything." Even as she said it, she could sense she was lying to herself. All the little details around the watch didn't add up. Where had she gotten it? Why had she never opened it? What did the symbols on the outside actually mean? The more she thought about it, the more scared she got, and for a moment, she was tempted to throw the watch down the corridor and run away from it.

But just then, a hand on her chin, tilting it up slightly, reassured her as she made eye contact with the Doctor again. "Trust me," he said quietly. "Just try. Open it."

His calm, gentle urging gave her something to ground herself. Looking back down, she tried to swallow her fear, her thumb hovering over the watch button for what seemed like an eternity and a half.

Until, finally, she clicked it open.