The Goodbye Tour – Forgiveness

Disclaimer: The following story is a work of fiction and for entertainment purposes only.

The Goodbye Tour – Forgiveness

The TARDIS materialised in a narrow alley behind a row of shops. The Doctor stood beside the blue box for a moment, staring at the fire escape attached to the building opposite.

"Right then," he said quietly. "Last few stops."

He straightened his tie and headed inside.

Adam Mitchell answered the door with a scowl, annoyed at somebody interrupting his afternoon sulk. He stared at the man in the brown suit who didn't look like he was a Jehovah's Witness. The man didn't say anything, just flashed a smile. And in that moment, he recognised his visitor, his brain connecting the odd clothes and manic grin to another stranger he had met before. The scowl hardened into something colder.

"You."

The Doctor offered a small smile. "Hello, Adam."

"What do you want?"

"Can I come in?"

"No."

"Fair enough."

The Doctor remained standing where he was as Adam folded his arms. For a time neither moved, one unwilling to give up and walk away and the other too stuborn to just slam the door.

Eventually Adam sighed. "You're not going away, are you?"

"Probably not," The Doctor admitted. "I came a long way to see you... nasty bit of traffic in the Vortex at the moment.

With obvious reluctance, Adam stepped aside and The Doctor entered.

The flat was small but tidy. A few shelves held books and old computer equipment. There were signs of a life slowly being rebuilt, but only slowly. It was not the home The Doctor thought Adam had envisioned for himself when he had tried to use future knowledge to his advantage. Probably not even the home he was willing to settle for back when he had been working in America.

Adam shut the door behind them. His expression made it clear that this was about as hospitable as he was going to get.

"What do you want?" he repeated.

The Doctor looked around some more, taking in a few odds and ends. He resisted the urge to comment of the cuddly toys down the side of the sofa.

"Nice place."

"Don't," Adam interrupted before he could say anything else.

"Don't what?"

"Don't do that thing."

"What thing?"

"The pretending everything's normal thing," Adam said, his emotional state becoming more and ore evident.

The Doctor's smile faded. As much as he was seen as the avenging god and the righter of wrongs, he liked to believe that he was merciful. Adam had been one of those that had angered him and received the lasting affects of his wrath. And after everything he had been through, the Time Lord could not be certain that he had deserved it.

"Right."

Silence settled between them, awkward.

Adam broke it first and The Doctor realised that he was likely the first person Adam had been able to talk to about what had happened.

"You left me."

The Doctor nodded. "Yes, I did."

"You dumped me back on Earth with alien technology stuck in my head."

"Yes."

"You ruined my life."

The Doctor looked like he was about to argue, perhaps justify his behaviour. Instead he caught himself and just looked away. For a moment neither spoke and then he said quietly, "I know."

Adam laughed bitterly. "No, you don't. You have no idea what I went through."

The Doctor's eyes met his, genuine regret on his face. "No. I don't."

The answer caught Adam off guard. He had expected some sort of defence, a lecture about how he deserved it or an attempt to shift blame. But there was none of that. Just acceptance. And as hard as he tried to stay angry, Adam found he was just tired. He looked away first.

"You know how many jobs I've lost?" he asked quietly, and when the The Doctor remained silent he pressed on, "How many people thought I was insane?"

Still silence and Adam had to admit it felt good to have somebody who at least understood what had happened to him.

"Do you know how many times I accidentally clicked my fingers and watched people stare at me like I was a freak?" he pressed and was rewarded when The Doctor lowered his head. Still he was not done. Adam pointed angrily at his forehead. "You left me with this."

"Yes," The Doctor admitted. "I did."

"Why?"

The Doctor sighed. "Because I was angry. You put Rose at risk. You put my life at risk. You risked information that should never be known falling into the hands of the people running that network. And all so you could make a bit of money."

Adam blinked. He hadn't expected such a straight answer. But The Doctor was far from finished.

"And because I was showing off." A long pause, a sigh. "I was a different man back then Adam. Damaged. Willing to show off and humiliate those that upset me. I punished you because I found it amusing to think of how it would be for you trapped in a world that could never understand why your forehead opened when somebody clicked their fingers... I didn't think about what it would do to you."

"I betrayed your trust," Adam said.

"Yes."

"I stole information from the future."

"Yes."

"I tried to get rich."

"Yes."

Adam shook his head.

"I was stupid."

The Doctor almost smiled at that. "Very. Especially since I gave you unlimited credit. You could have just gone to the bank and visited an antique store to pick up some old coinage."

To Adam's surprise, he found himself smiling back, but only briefly.

"I spent years blaming you," Adam admitted. "I so wanted it to be your fault that I ended up in this state. But eventually, I realised you were right to do it."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I saw the future," Adam laughed at himself. "Alien worlds. Time travel. The whole universe there to be seen. And all I could thing about was making money."

"Humans," The Doctor snorted

"Humans."

And for a moment they both laughed. It was over quickly, but Adam had to admit he felt better. It was the first genuine laugh he had had in a while.

The Doctor shoved his hands into his pockets as he considered his words. "Leaving you behind was the right decision," he said and Adam nodded in agreement. It made him feel genuinely uncomfortable. "But leaving you with a permanent punishment wasn't."

"What do you mean?" Adam frowned.

Instead of answering, the Doctor pulled something from his pocket and Adam recognised it as the sonic screwdriver.

Adam immediately took a step backwards, holding his hands up defensively. "What are you doing?"

"Making a small repair," The Doctor pointed the sonic at Adam's forehead. The device emitted a soft whine and the blue light flickered briefly before stopping.

Adam blinked as The Doctor slipped the sonic away.

"That's it?" he asked.

"That's it."

"What did you do?" he asked suspiciously.

But, The Doctor did not answer, choosing instead to head for the door.

"Doctor?"

The Time Lord paused. "I came to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?" Adam frowned.

"Long story," The Doctor smiled sadly. "I got given a reward and I chose to take the opportunity to visit some old friends and maybe right a few wrongs along the way. Think of it as a farewell tour."

"You're not going to explain, are you?"

"No."

"Typical."

"Oh definitely," The Doctor agreed as he opened the door. Then stopped and without turning around, he said, "You made a mistake, Adam. It doesn't have to define the rest of your life. And I... shouldn't have left you in a position where it would."

And then, he left, allowing the door to close behind him. A few moments later came the familiar groaning sound of the TARDIS. And then silence as Adam stood motionless looking around the empty flat.

"Making a small repair," he muttered to himself as he sat down. "That's not an explanation."

Five minutes later he was making tea. Ten minutes later he was still annoyed. Twenty minutes later he was pacing. Finally, frustrated, he snapped his fingers.

Nothing happened.

Adam froze.

Slowly he looked upward, shocked: his forehead remained closed. A frown appeared on his face as he snapped his fingers again.

Nothing.

His pulse quickened as he tried again. And again. And again.

Nothing. Not the slightest movement.

For years that simple gesture had haunted him. A nervous habit formed by stress. An unconscious movement in a moment of frustration. And suddenly the opening would appear and people would stare. And then the questions would follow and everything would fall apart.

Adam clicked repeatedly and every time nothing happened. The activation signal was gone although he was certain the implant remained and the opening still existed. But the trigger no longer responded and the trap was gone.

Adam sat down heavily and for a long time he simply stared into space.

The Doctor hadn't erased what happened, hadn't pretended Adam was innocent. He hadn't claimed Adam never deserved consequences. Instead, he had removed the part that kept punishing him long after the lesson had been learned.

A slow smile spread across Adam's face as for the first time in years, he clicked his fingers without fear.

Nothing happened and it was wonderful.

And far away, deep within the Time Vortex, the Doctor stood alone at the TARDIS console. He stared at the swirling energies beyond the doors. One more old friend visited, one more unfinished conversation complete.

His fingers moved across the controls and a grin slowly appeared.

"Right then. Let's go find Captain Jack."

The TARDIS vanished into the vortex, racing toward the final farewell that would eventually lead to the end of the Tenth Doctor's long goodbye tour.

End

End