Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 17:37:19 EDT
From: J
Subject: DOCTOR WHO, JESSE AND JEREMY 60

Jeremy returned to the  console room. He had changed once more. Jesse had
also. Jesse sat longways  across a wicker chair in the console room. He looked
bored or upset or both. "Is  Toby right? Is it his universe?"
The Doctor ran around some  controls, "Totally. It all confirms. It is his
universe. So now we can  go..."
"It seems ages."  Jeremy  said.
"A few days is all,"  Jesse shrugged, "So we're going to  New York? My
home state?"
"Yes,"  the Doctor nodded, "At Jeremy's  request..."
"We used to live in  Irvington, New York. I used to entertain audiences
there,"  Jesse laughed. "Since I was  7, I always acted, sang. Remember the King
and I?"
"Remember? I was in  it!"  The Doctor  said.
Jesse sat up, "The  play?"
"The real life equivalent  in that time,"  the Doctor smiled,  "You want to
visit home,  too?"
Jesse shrugged and didn't  answer.
"Is it....is it...to  stay?"  The Doctor  asked.
"No, of course not,"  Jeremy put his head to one side and it  sounded like
he wanted to stay home.   This worried both the Doctor and Jeremy.
Jesse snorted. Jeremy  looked at him and smiled, moved to him, and sat on his
lap. Jesse  laughed.
"Well, then, I know you  have your privacy...."
"I just love the way you  say privacy, so British..."  Jeremy  smiled as Jesse
put his arms around him from below.
"Yes, well...as my good  acquaintance Martin Luther, the German priest once
said...the time to keep silence  has passed and the time to speak has come..."
"It's a girl,  Doctor..."
Jesse startled so much, he  dropped Jeremy off his lap. Jeremy fell with
hands out and shook his head to  blink away the shock of hitting the floor. "Oh
sorry!"  Jesse put his hands under Jeremy's  arms and lifted him up. "A...a
girl? I  thought..."
"Oh,"  the Doctor said, not flinching,  much.
"She was in the Chronicles  of  Narnia, Doctor."   Jeremy smiled as the
Doctor set  the coordinates. "Her brother played Micheal in Peter Pan. She was
born a year  or so before me...."
"Oh, an older woman,"  the Doctor lifted his left eyebrow and  turned to
wink at Jesse...
Jeremy ignored him.  "SO... so we were close in age. Anna  Popplewell. We used
to meet every...I mean we meet every year in New York City, December  27th
usually. I'd like to see her this  year..."
"Not a problem,"   the Doctor  said.
Jesse looked over the  Doctor's shoulder after brushing Jeremy's butt off. "
Doctor, Martin Luther?  German? Junior and Senior?"
"Not that Martin  Luther,"  the Doctor sighed. "The  one who started the
reformation and...the Lutheran Church resulted. You know..."  he countered Jesse's
quizzical  look.  Then he imitated Luther in a  stern voice and pointed at
Jesse's chest,   "...we only can enter heaven as we  have received Jesus'
righteousness and not on your own...for we haven't any..."  He looked at Jesse's
frightened  face.  Then he dropped it and tapped  Jesse's nose, "Except for you, of
course..."
Jesse laughed,  "Oh,  Doctor..."
Jeremy, after being brushed  off, was with his back to the console and
staring into space. He was serious  faced, "I'm going to tell her."
"No, No, no, no, no. About  the TARDIS? I don't think that will fly at all."
Jesse joked, "A bit like  the TARDIS..."
"Very  funny..."
Jeremy turned to them, "I  want you both to know I'll protect you both."
"You can't tell her about  the TARDIS or me or Gallifrey, which doesn't
exist any longer  or..."
Jeremy put his hands up,  "Doctor, stop. I'm going to tell her that I'm gay."

Mouths open and jaws  dropped. Silence. Long Silence. "Well, one of you say
something..."
"Oh."   The Doctor said, "Oh. Well, then,  if you must..."
"We meet at a theater  there, Broadway...I'll tell you the exact street. She'
ll be waiting for me there,  I'm sure...her family lets her travel there, they
wait at a hotel sometimes...and  me, well, I'm a long time traveler. My family
will be also there, shopping  someplace. It's just her..."
"It won't be,"   Jesse nodded, "Tell one, you tell  all."
"You don't know her. I  trust her. She won't. And I won't reveal that you'
re gay  either..."
"What? Me, gay?"  Jesse smiled, then dropped it. "I'm not  gay, I'm bi..."
"Jesse..."   Jeremy smiled.
"Set and match..."  the Doctor said, "We should, uh, be  there shortly..."
"I just have to,"  Jeremy said, "I mean, seeing  Toby..."
"Something he said to  you?"  Jesse grew defensive, "Go  back there, Doctor,
to him, to his world, and I'll punch that friggin porn  slut's lights out..."
The Doctor looked, whirling  around at Jesse, "Jesse, you're not that
violent a young  man..."
"No,"  Jesse said,  "But...but..."
"It's nothing he said or  did. It...it's just like he lives, you know. He's
not really worried about his  career much if at all, and he's not hiding...he's
just kinda free. And like he  says, living in the TARDIS with the Doctor's
kinda like that. And I like feeling  so free. But I can't feel fully free if I
keep my present time secret from the  fact that I'm so friggin gay, you know
what I  mean?"
Jesse turned and leaned on  a machine against the wall, "Yeah. Yes."
"I have to  be..."
"Your own  Romana?"
"Yeah,"  Jeremy piped up, "I guess that's one way  of putting it."
The TARDIS shot through the  time and space vortex, came out a hole in it and
hovered over Earth. "Jesse,  don't be so..so worried. I'm ...not staying. It'
s not like both of us haven't gone  home a million times already..."
"I know but this...this feels  different..."  Jesse said, "Almost  like you're
changing something..."
"I'm changing,"  Jeremy said,  "I'm..."
"Braver?"  Jesse  asked.
"And you are, too,"   Jeremy put forth, "Look, I'm not  asking you to do
this...I just have to. One step at a time...and I'm going to start  with one person
that I trust. Okay?"
"You don't need my  okays,"  Jesse smiled and turned to look at him  again.
Jeremy faced him and stared  into his eyes. "No. No, I don't. But I want it..."

Jesse melted. "Oh, okay.  Then, okay."   He smiled at  Jeremy.
Jeremy didn't smile right  away. "It'll be okay..."
"I know. Things will  change, though..."
"I'm counting on it,"  Jeremy  said.
"I think...I think it's very  brave of you,"   the Doctor  said, followed by
a few seconds of silence and then the pop of the landing bell  sound. And then
the TARDIS landing sound.  "Typical..."
"What?"  Jeremy looked over at the read outs,  "Wrong place?"
"Wrong time?"  Jesse  asked.
The Doctor sighed. "No, no,  no. Just the bell is supposed to sound after we'
ve  landed..."
"So this is okay  then?"  Jeremy asked. "I can go  out?"
"Oh yes,"  the Doctor read the console information,  "Earth, atmosphere is
all right....perfectly safe...December  2007..."
"Okay,"  as he grabbed a long white-gray winter  jacket from the hat stand,
Jeremy moved for the door control and found Jesse's  hand over his. He turned
to look at Jesse, who stared at him. "I'm sure..."   Jeremy smiled at him.
Jesse nodded  and together they pulled that red knob lever to open the doors.
Jeremy moved to them, "Just a small  step...that's all this is. It's just a small
... step..."    He looked out to the alley.  "Great place to park..."
"Thank you,"  the Doctor  said.
"Back in a jiffy..."  Jeremy said and walked out.
"Jiffy,"  Jesse mocked. "Who says that? Where'd  you pick up that
expression?"
The Doctor turned from him,  "Can't imagine..."
Jesse laughed and moved to  the Doctor and put his arms around him and backed
him to the console. It was  then that Jesse saw the read out. "Doctor...?"
"Hmmmm?"
Jeremy walked into the  early afternoon of a busy New York  City. He breathed
in the air. Yuck. Just as he  remembered. He stretched a bit, no one passing
by really noticing him yet. He  began to walk down the street. New  York. Big
buildings. He felt uneasy. As he walked, he  passed it off as the lingering
feelings of time travel. He didn't make these  specific arrangements with  Anna,
 who was one year younger than himself but he knew that they would just show
up  there...dang arrangements and all, the last few years anyway. He looked up
at a  theatre sign. Beauty and the Beast was still playing. That's great, he
thought.  It was starting to feel like home, his home, his time. Even though he
didn't  live in New  York at all really...he felt Earth bonded if not bound. He
 even began to like the feel of strangers brushing against him, past him, the
 smell of the steam and even the wind blown dust...he smiled. His hair, longish
now  blew attractively as the wind blew. He put his hands in his pockets. He
and Anna  used to drink coffee...tea...go the Metropolitan Opera house. Saw
Carman. It was in  French and he understood very little of it then. Now with the
TARDIS translation  circuits getting in his head...he knew he'd enjoy it even
more. They went ice  skating in Central Park. Saw Hairspray. It felt  good to be
back in the cold weather and there was even bits of snow left over  from some
recent snowstorm...but not too much. He didn't get much cold and snow in  Los
Angeles...or  in the TARDIS. Of course, they had stayed at Lake  Tahoe for a
short time...something to do with residue ice monsters or  something. Which proved
to be nothing much. Jeremy thought  how nice it was to ski...Jesse hadn't done
much of that in his own private past...he smiled. His heart warmed thinking
about  Jesse, ice monster residue and the Doctor. Action and adventure. The
Riviera one day, Monte  Carlo the next day. And of course that Bombay Alley still
further the next day  or was that the day before next? What could beat traveling
in time and  space?
Damn, he just remembered.  Anna's birthday was, like December 15th or
something...no, no, the  16th. She'd be...something like 18 or so now. And he had no
present for  her. He looked at his wrist watch...and forgot that meant nothing. "
Excuse  me..."  he asked an old woman. "Can  you tell me the time?"
The woman looked at him  quizzically, as if she had forgotten something...or
just remembered something. She  had been hurrying along. But whatever she was
hurrying to, she stopped short for  him. It was those blue eyes. "Uhmmm, yeah,
yes. It's 11:30 am, son...don't  I..."
"Oh, lady, thanks so much.  I can still get a gift for her."   Jeremy patted
her on the arm, "Thanks so much..."   He took off toward an area of  stores.
The old woman turned around to watch him rush  off.
"Say, don't I know you from  someplace, young....no. No, it can't be, can it?"
   She shook it off and began to  hurry once more.
Signs of a Christmas just  passed lightened up the entire city. There were
hanging lights, lanterns,  Christmas trees, decorations.  It  was definitely the
right time, Jeremy mused.  This was Christmas Time in New York City, between
the  holiday itself and New Year's Day.  It felt good. It felt normal. Jeremy
rushed into a store, hurriedly  bought a jeweled glass piece with a lion on it...
Anna liked lions, even before she  played in the Narnia movie, and hurried
out. "12...we meet at 12..."  he hailed a taxi down and plopped into  it and gave
the driver instructions, "Lyceum Theatre please...149th,  West 45th  Street
between Broadway  and..."
The driver, a gruff and  chubby kind of guy, turned, "I know where Lyceum is,
 kid..."
Jeremy relaxed and sat  back, "Oh, right. Right."  He  brushed a hand
through his hair and puffed out. He'd be on time. He sucked in  more air. He was
determined to tell her. A bit of him wanted to chicken out but  he knew he wouldn'
t.  Soon he was at  the theatre. He opened the door and the driver grunted. "
Oh, right, almost  forgot."    Travel cost. He reached into his  pocket and
took out a large bunch of bills, "Keep the  change."
The driver looked at it,  "Kid, keep the change? I can retire on this."
"Then go for it,"   Jeremy smiled.  Energized, he closed the door and waved,
 then turned at a brisk pace. As the driver drove off, the time traveler
looked  around. The large buildings overhead. The half clear blue-gray sky.  The
air and the sound of humans on Earth  going about their business. His  own
Earth.  It felt very strange and  weird being outside the TARDIS for something
like this. He already missed  it.  That familiar hum that warmed  him only when
he wanted it. The hum lowered to a nothingness when you felt it  was too
annoying but was there when you needed calming. That safety feeling  inside. He
approached the area and he saw  the back of  a woman. It  could be Anna.  He had
to cross the  street to get to her and so looking both ways, he tried. He
almost forgot. In  New York City,  one had to cross at the stop lights. He pulled
himself back and ran to the end  of the street. Traffic was most hectic, even
for this afternoon. He clung to his  present for her.
Finally, Jeremy walked  through the crowd. A song came to his head. The one
about "If I Could Fall into  the Sky" and "making my way through the crowddddd...
."   He couldn't get it out of his head  and he wasn't sure why. He recalled
that they used it on GILMORE GIRLS first  season promos. Odd, the things one
remembers being back on Earth in his own  present time. As he hurried toward
the canopy over the theatre, he brushed off  thoughts that this was not his own
time. He found, each time he came home to his  own time and place, he had to
brush such thoughts off. Anna had turned yet again  and had her back to him.
She wore a long green winter coat and had a kind of  kerchief over her head.
Funny, he thought, she didn't seem prone to wearing  those.  It felt like ages
since he  saw her but ...how long was he traveling with the Doctor? One loses
track of  the....the time while doing so. It could have been a year and he'd never
noticed.  And he'd only age a few seconds within that time, one of the
byproducts of being  with the Doctor.

In the console room,  the Doctor looked at Jesse' eyes. They widened. Then
glazed over. Jesse moved  back from the embrace he had the Doctor in. "Doctor,
you've done it  again."
"Done? Done what?"  He turned  around.
"The counter...it does look  like a zero but..."
"Oh my....the zero...it's  really not a zero at all but..."
Jesse shook his head and  ran for his coat, which was on the hat stand also,
and put on a bright blue jacket, so  bright and made of strange material that
it looked plastic. "We've got to get to  him before..."
Jeremy reached his hand for  the back of Anna. Then just as he was about to
touch her, she turned.  It was an old woman. An impossibly old  woman. She had
to be ninety seven years old. Jeremy moved back. He was never  afraid of old
people, especially women but he was expecting Anna. "I'm sorry,  from the back
I thought you were a friend of mine and..."   it was her eyes. He recognized
them. "Anna....Anna..."
The old lady looked at him  and she smiled. "You have not aged a day, Jeremy
Sumpter....You're such a  cad..."
Jesse rushed out of the  TARDIS and into the smokey alley.  New York  City
smell. Fumes. Cooking things.    "Damn you, Doctor, it's fucking  2087, not
2007. And Anna must be, what, 97 or 98 years old...?"
"I just hope he doesn't  meet himself!"   The Doctor  said as he rushed out.
A man passed by the Doctor  and Jesse as they exited the alley. The man was
obviously gay and flamboyant.  "Oh my, don't you know white is out during
Christmas time,  dearie?"
"Shut up,"  Jesse  snapped.
"Won't people notice  you?"
"In 2087? I guess most of  my fans will be around Anna's age, Doctor! Come
on!"
"We don't even know which  way he went."
"I do."  Jesse snorted, "That stupid theatre,  West 45 th  Street..."
"We could have taken  the..."    The Doctor  started back into the alley.
"Don't even say it,"  Jesse pulled him.
At the Lyceum Theater,  Jeremy had tears in his eyes. Someone was watching
them from the tucked in  doorway of  a  nearby restaurant.  "I'm sorry,"
Jeremy said, "I think you have me  mistaken for someone else..."
Anna, the old Anna, smiled,  "I don't think so but maybe...just maybe...you're
right..."   she withdrew her hand from  touching his light blonde hair. It was
so much lighter now after some adventures  on a sun kissed planet. "Of course,
he was always off with that Doctor of  his...and Jesse's...it couldn't be you,
though could  it?"
"Anna...."
"I'm sure my date will be  along any second now...and my nurse and chauffeur...
where are they all, I wonder?  Can't get around without the latter two..."
"Nurse?"   Jeremy turned from her to hide his  tears. They had formed so
much a pool that now they leaked out of their own  perimeter and cascaded down
his nose and cheeks. He ran. He turned back and put  the gift in her hands.
"For...for  me?"
Jeremy could only nod.  Then he turned again and  cried..."Doctor....Doctor!"
Jesse and the Doctor were  running toward him from another street. The Doctor
was ahead. "He might even  be...50 or so now or look 50 or so...I mean he'd be
one year younger than she...96 or  97 but he might look like he does now or he
might look 50 or anywhere in  between..."
Jesse caught up with the  Doctor, as they pushed past people, their running
impeded. People were looking  at them as though they were mad. And they might
just be. Jesse puffed and as he  spoke, clouds of  frosty air came  out. "Doctor
...Doctor, traveling with you...is compli...complicated....you suck  sometimes, you
know that, Doctor?"
"I suck."  He looked dejected.
They ran past the man in  the doorway, not really noticing him. The man was
Jeremy. He looked at them. He  was a blur to them.
Jeremy ran up to them. The  Doctor grabbed him even as he tried to run away
from the hug. Jeremy's face was  over the Doctor's shoulder and Jesse could
only stare at him, making faces of  sorrow and nodding in sympathy. "Don't say
anything...."   Jesse said, "We'll just go  back...back to the TARDIS...then back
in time, back here...try it again,  yeah?"
Jeremy cried. "I hate you  sometimes, Doctor, you know that?!"
The Doctor was crying over  Jeremy's shoulder, "It's not that bad. You didn'
t meet yourself and  you..."
"But where am I?"   Jeremy said, "I might be  dead..."
"Maybe but maybe not. We  might change things just by being here. You might
have died, you might not have,  you might not have and we didn't change that or
you might have and we did change  that. Let's do what Jesse says, for a
change,  yeah?"
"Thanks a lot,"  Jesse  snorted.
Anna was looking at them  from afar. With her was a chauffeur and a male
nurse. The male nurse had a  wheelchair ready for her. Anna waved him off, "I can
stand."
"Let's go..."   Jesse pulled Jeremy from the  Doctor and Jeremy just stared
at him. "Are you...?"
"Jesse, no,"   Jeremy hugged him and put his head  in Jesse's chest. Jesse
hugged him.  "I'm not."
Jesse looked at the  helpless Doctor. "Get the TARDIS. Bring it to that small
park over there...."   As the Doctor moved off, Jesse  called to him, "And for
fuck's sake, don't fuck it up. Get here  allright...."
The Doctor ran off.
"I'm so sorry,"   Jesse said as he hugged Jeremy.  "That shouldn't have
happened.
Jeremy picked his head up.  A girl passed by with a girlfriend. "Young love
is so nice,"  she said to her  friend.
"Yes, even on the  streets..."
"I guess times do  change,"  Jesse nodded. Jeremy  laughed and used his own
whole arm to wipe the tears away. "You ready to get to  that park over there?"

"I....I guess...Jesse, maybe  this isn't such a good idea after all."
"What? Telling  Anna..."
"No, that's a great idea. A  must have. A needed idea. The Doctor...."  He
sniffled.
"Oh, you're just  angry...."
Jesse walked away as if to  drop this talk.  Jeremy followed  him.   He
pulled Jesse's  sleeve.   "No, I don't know  anymore. He does things like this all
the time...and time makes me feel  so...strange, you know. I want...I think I want
a normal life  sometimes..."
Jesse nodded as they  walked, "Well, so do I sometimes but then I think about
it. Without  him?"
They stopped their  walk.   Jeremy cocked his head.  Jesse did too and put
his hands out. Jeremy shook his head. "I just  don't...nah..."
"Nah..."
They were quiet all the way  to the little park. They waited there until a
couple of couples moved off a  bench. They were silent even as the TARDIS
appeared behind the bench. Jeremy  looked at Jesse. They heard the TARDIS slowly
appear. They tried to ignore it.  Other people noticed it.  The two of  them didn'
t care. The Doctor didn't care either, as he flung the doors open and  was
behind them.  They stood up and  faced him, Jeremy rounded the bench, Jesse
jumped over it. "Listen to me, both  of you...I'm so very very sooo very very sorry
..."    They were quiet. He grabbed  their shoulders and pulled them into the
TARDIS. He slammed the doors.    Onlookers wondered about it.  Some thought it
was some type of  Christmas Show, for the Doctor had hung a Christmas Wreath on
the outside  of the TARDIS doors.
Inside, those doors, the  Doctor opened his arms.   "I  love you both so very
much. I make mistakes. I'm not perfect as much as I  sometimes think I am..."
Jeremy moved forward,  "Doctor, sometimes you make me so...sometimes you're so
..."  he choked up.  "Other times you're just...and then you  just go and do
something....and then you say something...."   He looked the Doctor in the  eyes.
The Doctor swallowed and  took him in his arms again, "I mean it. I love you.
I wouldn't do this on  purpose...sometimes the, ahhh, TARDIS has her own
reasons for doing things such as  this but this time it might have just been one of
those plain ole mistakes. She  takes us to places to teach us things, to get
us involved because when we  are....it's better....we're better..."
Jeremy kissed the Doctor on  the mouth, "Doctor..."
"Yeah?"
"Shut  up."
Jesse was behind them and  embraced Jeremy from behind and hugged past him
around the Doctor, "You mean  shut the fuck up."
"Let's go see your  friend...."