Once again another curious mission had been achieved within the space time continuum that never seemed to be willing to give you or the Doctor a break. It had been an interesting and funny adventure indeed with the poor Doctor encountering a many-tentacle and astoundingly strong alien admirer who'd coated him in slime and been unwilling to let him go. Thankfully though the TARDIS was a strange place where the Doctor could clean himself up amidst your continuous laughter...
"You still haven't told me how you got out of its grasp!" You joked as you recalled the ridiculous excuses he'd been trying to make for the creature to let him go. Apparently aliens without genitalia had no care about those with if they wanted to share some DNA. His expression was one that warned you didn't want to know the answer and you chuckled as you pulled open one of the random sections of wall to reveal a shower and a closet of spare clothes – the perfect changing room.
When you were changed you switched with the Doctor and then settled down to sit beside the great throbbing chamber at the centre of the TARDIS. You watched the colours run up and down and listened to the gentle low thrum as it cruised through the continuum on its merry way to somewhere. You'd previously asked about whether he could control this machine but the answer was generally 'I can give it a go'... much to your amusement. But now you began to wonder about how lonely it must be in this device... how much the world would seem unreal and you considered your own purpose here.
The Doctor had to have a companion; that was all he had said about it when you'd asked after meeting a few of his elder companions. After learning about his past lives and wondering over how the regeneration thing worked, you wondered if that meant he became even more alone with each shift. The Doctor lived when all others died, he was the last of his kind... you wondered if he could ever experience love with such a life.
When he emerged in the same clothes, as usual, but without the layer of mucous he'd been gifted, you turned toward him with a gentle smile as he skipped about the TARDIS and began to hang off the random levers and bars around the centre and shifted about in thought. You watched in amusement but there was a strange sensation of awkwardness about it as he strolled toward you, swinging his coat around and thinking aloud about where you might end up travelling next. You were anxious about asking the question that was on the tip of your tongue, but something made you feel confident.
"In all your travels and lives... have you ever experienced love?" The question seemed to catch in your throat and it immediately caught him off guard. He seemed to freeze in surprise, his usual quirky manner shifting into something a little more concerned. You felt anxious and then cleared your throat before trying to explain your question a little more, though your cheeks were still flushed. "Well... you know... they say love is timeless, you're a time lord... I just wanted to know if that was true?"
He seemed quiet for a while and there was a sadness to him that made your heart ache and you wish you'd remained silent. You stepped over to his side as he seemed to stare into the blue of the TARDIS, you gently patted his shoulder and he turned to you with a gentle smile. For a moment your eyes met and though you wanted to turn away out of embarrassment, he seemed to hold you for a time with his eyes... making you feel smaller and smaller.
"I've lived enough to know that love doesn't die... but it does change. There are so many possibilities that you can comfort yourself by stating 'sure in this reality we have love... but in another reality they have love somewhere else'. The problem is... when you're a time lord you can never forget and you can never be in two realities – with the one exception..." You seemed to be staring into the colours as if they were the night sky or some screen reminding him of all the things he'd experienced in his life time. You turned beside him and held you're his hand tightly with a tender smile. He turned toward you with a very sweet smile. "So in answer to your question... I have known it, I still know it and as a universal force it has never died... it just regenerates as if it's a time lord itself."
"That's actually very sweet." You smiled, blushing once more before leaning forward and softly pressing your lips against his cheek. He turned about to look at you... seemingly confused at first before leaning forward and giving you a more powerful kiss on the lips.
"The key to it though, is living in the moment and never worrying about what will happen next... because love is beyond time."
