I'll Stand By You // The Doctor

For once, there was not a single stray aboard the TARDIS. Which would have pleased her very much if it hadn't been for the fact that it meant the Doctor, her sweet Thief, was travelling on his own. Countless people had told him never to do it, and though the TARDIS had never bothered learning their names (there were just too many to bother with), she felt that they were right. He had to be with someone. Always. Leaving the Doctor alone with his thoughts was dangerous; it never ended well. He entered a dark and scary place, and she hated it. More than hated, she was afraid for him, when he entered it.

It had been some days since she'd gotten herself a new body. She'd had to spend a day in the hospital wing just to make sure that this new body would co-operate and wouldn't just die like the first one had. Though seeing as she wasn't going to house the matrix like the other one had had to and was simply only linked to the TARDIS's thoughts, the woman was certain that this time round it would be ok. She was so excited! Finally she would actually get to talk with her darling Doctor; not just listen to him, but actually talk back! However, Idris (as she was now calling herself in honour of the other Idris that had died for her) just hadn't found the right moment to tell him about what she'd done. Or rather, to show him. Today, however, when her Thief had had the 'brilliant' idea of travelling all on his own, Idris decided that there was no better time. So halfway to taking him to his wanted destination, the TARDIS decided to take matters into her own hands.

The Doctor was running around, punching buttons and pulling levers, yelling and generally just panicking as he usually did when the TARDIS decided to throw a proverbial spanner into the works. The TARDIS was just about to take over the flying herself when the Doctor pressed the big red button that activated the voice interchange, currently her only form of communication with him. "Why must you panic so? You won't crash," she told him rather matter-of-factly as the hologram came on. "Not while I'm flying it. Contrary to what you may think, I do know how to land without crashing," she added, a slight chuckle leaving her lips. But the next second the smile and laugh was gone, only to be replaced with a more serious expression. "You know you're not supposed to go travelling on your own. It puts you in a very dark place and that's very not good." She sighed, crossing her arms. "How many times have you been told not to travel on your lonesome, hmmm? Even your strays had enough sense to see that you shouldn't be on your own. So why don't you listen?" she asked, her voice soft as she tilted her head to the side, her brown eyes searching his.

Why, why did she have to always act up like this? Was getting to Rio too much to ask for? The Doctor was starting to lose count of all the times he'd tried to get his ship to go there. Yet this was the first time without the Ponds. It would've been better with the Ponds. They had, after all, been the ones who had wanted to get there in the first place. But they were getting on with their 'normal' human lives, which the Doctor did understand were important as well. So for the moment, he was dashing around the TARDIS console and shouting at it on his own.

"Would you please just calm down and help me out here?!" His tweed jacket flapped out as he spun around to lay a hand on a lever, trying to pull it down while muttering something about "helmic regulators" under his breath. Finally he got it successfully yanked down, and his hands flailed about as they pushed more buttons. It didn't seem to help calm the police box down at all. Grumbling, he decided that he really did need help, and pushed the big red button.

"If you can land without crashing, then what do you call this?" he retorted as the voice interface spoke. Despite the retort, he couldn't help smiling. Idris. The woman his TARDIS had been in for a short time. She was a good face, and one he missed. So did the TARDIS, he thought, if her choice of interface appearance was anything to go by. "Be a dear and make the flight a little bit smoother. Please?" he asked her, giving off a hint of puppy dog eyes.

But they and his smile faded away as the ship continued speaking. He turned to look back at the console and resumed pressing buttons and switches. "I do listen," he replied. "Of course I listen to them. I always do, and I know. I know I shouldn't be alone. But Amy and Rory are on Earth, getting on with their messy human lives. They deserve to live them out as well as spend time with me. I'm not going to be selfish, for once. If they need or want me they can call." He walked round to the other side of the console, pushing another lever up as he did so.