Title: Dream Into Action
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: gen
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: Buffet 2, fc_smorgasbord
Prompt: 21, Action
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Tenth Doctor, unfortunately. Please do not sue.

***

The Doctor sat at the console of his ship, drumming his fingers. He wasn't used to the feeling of boredom; it was a state that he was rarely ever in. There was always something to do, some new place to go, some adventure to be had.

Nevertheless, he was bored. What did he have to do? Nothing that he could think of. No place to go, no one to share an adventure with. He was alone, drifting, rudderless. It was a feeling that he hated, but one that he wasn't sure how to combat.

What had he always done when he'd been bored before? He'd gone looking for some sort of adventure, of course. But that didn't seem as though it would cure his boredom now. The Doctor leaned forward, his brow wrinkling in a frown.

The problem was that he didn't like being alone. He'd made a vow to himself that he wasn't going to travel with any more companions; they always leaving in the end, and he didn't want to deal with having his hearts broken again.

That had already happened too many times, and he was tired of it. Far better for him to be alone and to always feel lonely than to have that loneliness assuaged for a while, only to be plunged back into it when his companion decided that they wanted to leave.

Oh, this was silly. Standing up, he began to pace around the console, his hands clasped behind his back. He was a Time Lord. He shouldn't be feeling bored, not with all the places he could go and the things he could do if he so chose.

What he needed was a plan. Something that caught fire in his brain, something that would help him to shake off this hated lethargy and take an interest in what was around him. That shouldn't be hard to do; there was, after all, so much to see in the universe.

Sighing, continued to pace around the control room. Yes, there was a lot to see and do in this world. The problem was that in over 900 years, he'd seen and done most of it already. There wasn't much that would be new and different to him.

The Doctor almost laughed at himself as that thought came into his mind. How could he say that? The universe, past, present and future, was almost without borders. Yes, he'd seen a lot of it. But even he hadn't seen everything.

He shouldn't be pacing around his ship feeling sorry for himself. He should be taking action, pushing himself to do something. It wasn't a Time Lord's place to feel bored, not when the entire world was literally his playground.

Heading for the console, he looked down at it, wondering where he could go that he hadn't already been, what sights might await him. There were plenty of places out there -- though he had no idea just how to go about getting to all of them.

When he found a new place to explore, it was usually because he'd been trying to go somewhere else and hadn't quite found his destination. He generally stumbled upon places that were new to him by sheer accident -- and sometimes regretted being there.

But this time, it would be different, the Doctor told himself, a smile starting to spread over his features. He might be traveling aimlessly, with no particular direction in mind, but discovering some new corner of the universe would make the travel worth it.

And wasn't that part of what he'd been meant to do -- to discover new places and find out what they were like? That was a large part of being who and what he was. Though he did have a tendency to get into trouble when he found a new world.

It had never been his intention to meddle in any of the worlds he'd been to. But somehow, getting into some sort of trouble seemed to be a part of his stock-in-trade. He'd never been able to avoid that, and he had come to the conclusion over the centuries that he never would.

Trouble was his one constant companion, the one that never quite seemed to go away, no matter how much he might want to see the last of it. But he'd accepted that part of his life, and there were times when he even reveled in it.

Not that he actually enjoyed creating trouble -- that was something he always tried to avoid. But he had to admit that if he didn't get into some sticky situations, life would be much less interesting. In fact, he would be bored all the time!

And boredom was something that he really didn't have a right to feel. Not when he was a Time Lord with all sorts of worlds waiting for him to discover them, and every possibility in the universe in front of him. He couldn't feel bored, not with all of that at his disposal.

What he needed to do was take some action, make up his mind where he was going to go and just do it. He'd sat here sunk into melancholy for far too long; it was time to shake that off and to jump back into his life with a vengeance.

What did it matter that he was alone? This wasn't the first time that he'd been without a companion, and he'd had some of the most exciting adventures of his life when he was by himself. He shouldn't feel that he required a companion by his side all the time.

Yes, it was time that he sprang into some sort of action. He'd spent far too long indulging himself in dreams, and that was never good for him. A Time Lord shouldn't allow himself to sink into melancholy, not when there was an entire universe spread out in front of him.

What action could he take? There were so many places to go, so many sights that he still hadn't seen. Should he simply take a chance on ending up in some new place, or go to some past time that he hadn't spent time in for a while?

What would be the better choice? He frowned, leaning his elbows on the console. There were always interesting things to be seen in the past; and somehow, he always managed to find new sights that caught his eye, no matter how many times he'd been to a particular place.

But this time, it would be better to try and find a place he'd never been. Maybe he would discover new sights that could captivate him -- and maybe, just maybe, he'd meet some interesting people. He could possibly even find a new companion.

The Doctor laughed ruefully, shaking his head. That was a dream that he wasn't going to allow himself. He didn't need a companion at the moment; that dream wasn't going to become reality for a while. It was time for him to accept the fact that he would be alone for a while.

He needed to put his other dreams into action; it was past time for that. Clearing his throat, he pressed a few buttons, feeling the familiar displacement of time and space as the Tardis moved through the universe, taking him to some place that he'd never been.

What would he find there? Some great adventure, he hoped. One that he would be able to remember for the rest of his days, a time of his life that he could look back on with a smile. Whatever happened, he'd finally taken action, moving ahead on the path of his life.

A smile spread over his face at the thought. Whatever was going to happen, he was ready for it.

***