Then and Now

(A fanfic involving the Meta-Crisis Doctor and my OC Time Lady, Erida)

Square One: Prologue

In the end, it wasn't him she had loved.

She had loved the idea of him: growing old with the Doctor, traveling, adventuring, seeing new worlds. But first she would have to take the slow path with him. She had to wait 10 years for the TARDIS to grow.

She couldn't do it. She couldn't wait. She couldn't love him. He was the wrong man in the right body; the Doctor without the TARDIS.

So Rose Tyler and John Smith called off their engagement. And a few awkward months later, she moved away. She took a job at Torchwood Two, and he hoped she was happy.

And then he was alone. And that was okay; he'd been alone before. He'd even taken the slow path before. All he had to do was wait until the TARDIS was fully grown and then he could be free again.

He'd even named her: Vasudha.

So John Smith waited, and he worked with Torchwood. And a few months before Vasudha was ready for her maiden flight, people started coming back through time. Scared, disoriented people in desperate need of medical attention. They all told the same story:

They were slaves on the planet Zyga. They were trying to fight against the opressive Kheri, but they were losing the struggle. There was a woman there, one of the leaders of the rebellion, who could get some people out. They called her Shi.

So naturally, he made Zyga his first trip, taking his unsuspecting coworkers along. What they saw was horrifying, but deep down John was excited. Finally, he could do the universe some good! He could help people in need, just like a doctor should! And maybe, just maybe, he could rid himself of his pain.

The last slave to come back through time to Torchwood had told them how to get to the 'base'. The 'base' was a hidden network of tunnels and basements, through which slaves could escape. The ones that were sentenced to death stayed and helped the others escape. The woman called Shi was not there.

It took a while for John to gain Axet's trust, but it finally did happen. He'd gotten wind of a Kheri raid on the 'base' and together the two men had been able to get all the slaves out in time. And so finally, Axet told John that Shi had been captured. She was being held at a high security detention center.

"Famous for reconditioning," Axet said. "It's where they send the slaves to brainwash them. But I know Shi. There's nothing they can do to her to make her break. It's from in there that she's been sending them back to you, I just know it."

So John and his Torchwood coworkers, Amelia and Harry, went to the detention center with the cover of buying a slave.

After John showed the guards their documents (via psychic paper, of course), they were allowed inside.

It was John that found her. And while they'd been given a description of Shi, what they hadn't been told (probably because Axet didn't know himself) was that Shi wasn't human.

John was looking into the eyes of a Time Lady.