Title: Never Leave
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Ten.5
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 6, 50ficlets
Prompt: 21, Abandoned
Author's Note: The human version of the Doctor is being referred to as John Smith in this fic, since it's the Doctor's human alias and his clone needed a name.
Author's Note: Spoilers for Journey's End, somewhat. This is an completely alternate take on the ending of Season Four.
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor, or his human clone. Please do not sue.

***

Jamie sighed as he looked down at the photo album in his hands, remembering every moment that the pictures he was scrutinizing symbolized. Even though he himself hadn't known any of these people, they resonated through his memories.

No, not his memories -- the Doctor's memories. The memories that he shared, but that he felt he had no right to, because they weren't his own. They were borrowed from someone else, taken from the mind of the man he loved, the man who had given him his life.

He could remember all of these people, remember how the Doctor had felt about them. None of them had been the Time Lord's lovers, but they'd all been his friends -- and he had cared for each and every one of them. He'd thought of them as his family.

What had possessed these people to leave the Doctor? Yes, there had been some who had died, people who had given their lives for the Doctor or for the good of the universe. And there were some who had been forced to leave, even though they might not have wanted to.

In the end, no matter how much they might have said that they cared about the Doctor and wanted to be with him, they had all abandoned him. And they had all contributed to the Doctor's sense of futility, to his feeling that he was doomed to always be alone.

Jamie was determined to change that. He was going to be the one companion who wouldn't abandon the Doctor, the one who would be here as long as he possibly could. He would spend his entire life with the Doctor; he would never leave this man of his own volition.

Death would eventually take him from the Doctor -- and that would happen much sooner than either of them wanted to contemplate, given the fact that he was trapped inside a human body. But at least he wouldn't be one of the people who walked out on the Time Lord.

He couldn't begin to understand why anyone would have done that. The people who had been forced to leave hadn't had a choice; neither had the ones who had sacrificed their lives. But the oens who had simply walked out on the Doctor .... Jamie didn't understand them at all.

How could anyone want to leave someone as wonderful as the Doctor? He was the perfect man -- funny, smart, handsome, brave, loving. Jamie thought that he was the sun, moon, and stars, all rolled into one person -- and that person actually loved him.

Maybe that was why so many others had decided to leave, he mused, leaning back on the couch and slowly closing the photo album. The Doctor hadn't been in love with them; no matter how much he had cared for them, he hadn't been able to give them what they wanted from him.

That was the only explanation, wasn't it? They hadn't been able to get what they wanted from the Doctor, so they had taken their revenge on him by leaving. They had probably hoped that he would come crawling back to them so they could have him at last.

But he hadn't. He had gone on with his life -- and he had found someone who would love him and stay with him through anything. Someone who loved him unconditionally, and didn't ask for that love to be returned in the physical sense, even though it was.

He never had to worry about the lover and companion he had now ever wanting to leave him, for any reason, Jamie told himself. The Doctor wouldn't be alone again, not as long as he was around. He would never leave; he was here for the entire span of his life, however long that would be.

There would come a time when death would take him, and the Doctor would be abandoned again. But at least the Time Lord would know that Jamie was waiting for him in the next realm, and that when he made his way there, they would never be parted again.

Jamie shook his head, trying to chase away those morbid thoughts. He didn't want to think about leaving the Doctor, abandoning him to his loneliness. He was here now, and he would be here for a long time to come. He wasn't going anywhere, not any time soon.

He would never abandon his lover. Not for any reason, and certainly not for selfish ones. But he didn't have to worry about that, Jamie thought with an inward smile. The Doctor loved him as he'd never loved anyone else. And that love was what would keep him here -- for all the days of his life.

***