[Theatrical Muse] Response

What are you waiting for?

The first time in which he offers you a trip in the TARDIS, you try your hardest not to accept. You’re done with this all now, all the aliens and monsters and dinosaurs. You’re done watching him almost die and you want nothing more but to go home, go to sleep, and then wake up the next morning to go to work.

But he keeps talking…talking about a place called Florana whose name alone sounds simply beautiful. He’s talking about a beautiful beach, and gently flowing waters, and the next thing you know, you’ve gone home not to sleep, but to pack a bag because you’re leaving shortly – in about an hour or so. He’s won, but, well, in your defence, it has been a long time since you had a chance to put on your favourite blue flowered bikini.

The next time you get this offer, it’s just about a year later and so much has changed. More to the fact, he’s changed and you’re not quite sure your relationship is ever going to be the same again. It’s not just the different face, but the new personality quirks you’ve been noticing. He probably doesn’t even want you tagging around anymore. So, you’ve come to tell him that you’re leaving this time. There won’t be any more trips in the TARDIS for you.

But once again, he has that way of his. He comes in and you talk about that robot, and then he decides you need a change. But it’s him…he’s the one that wants a change and not just in wardrobe, and when it comes down to it, he’s acting simply childish again. When he asks you if you’re coming, holding out that bag of jelly babies, you take one and eat it no matter how much you can’t stand the candy. And then you smile, and he smiles back, just like always.






There’s a third time to all of this too. This third offer doesn’t happen until some thirty odd years later, after you had nearly given up on waiting. But oh, he was back and all of a sudden, your life felt complete again. You were older, he had regenerated many a time, and in the process and found himself a new companion. But the danger was still there, the thrill was still there.

And oh, how he’s remodelled more than just his face, much to your surprise. You still prefer it the way it was, but oh, it’s the inside of the TARDIS again. It’s everything you remembered in your dreams. Then she, the new companion, nods to him, and he smiles at you and tells you, once more, that you can come with them.

It’s everything you ever wanted to hear since he stranded you in Aberdeen all those years ago. Your life has come back. He’s come back. So you stand there, frozen, except for the smile that creeps your way onto your face as you think of what your life can be like again. How you can live again.

You agree for a final time.

The next thing you know, the TARDIS has taken off with three new additions – you and the boy, and that daft metal dog you love so much. Everything’s just as it should be, and the adventures you face are just as exciting as those you faced when you were young. You see clockwork robots and you and him nearly trap yourself in nineteenth century France. Then it’s off to alternate dimensions and black holes and a whole universe waiting to be explored just as you had left it.

The boy is the first to leave, back in that alternate dimension. The girl is the most upset over this, but you and he just shrug it off. You’re used to people coming and going in your life, and the most important person from it is back again. You and the girl become fast friends and in some ways, you suppose, it’s almost like having a sister. A much younger sister, but a sister nonetheless. Then, somehow, somewhere along the line, the two of you – you and him - pick up just where you left off all those years before and things just fall into place. This is the life you’ve always wanted, travelling with him and growing old with him, and never having to face a dull moment.

You’ve found your family again.

And then disaster strikes. Torchwood’s gone bloody mad and they let Cybermen into the world, and then there’s the Daleks and everything is horrible. Somehow…just somehow he manages to figure a way out of all this and somehow you survive. But she winds up elsewhere, your new best friend. Back in that alternate dimension you once visited, trapped forever with her family and the boy. So now it’s just you and him again, you and your lover, travelling around the cosmos until one day














one day, you just can’t do it anymore. He’s gone through yet another regeneration by now (older and more dignified, a better match up to your age) and despite the fact that you’re about to have another birthday, things are still as lively as ever between you and him. Until once again, everything goes horribly wrong and you just can’t escape.

And you die. In his arms, the way you always wanted to. And that’s it. There’s no more offers or waiting or anything. It’s all over. It’s all.





“I can’t do this anymore.”

It doesn’t sound like your voice, but it is. You stand there sighing, trying to avoid his gaze and trying to fight the tears from your eyes as you speak. His face falls, and even though you try so hard to remain confident, it’s hard. It’s the first time you’ve ever refused his offer. It tastes strange, the words feel strange, but you need to. You need to finish this once and for all. There aren’t any more ocean planets or jelly babies. Too much has changed.

You realise with a shock that you’ve changed. So you make up your mind. No more Sarah, the Doctor’s companion. From now on, it’ll only be Sarah Jane, investigative journalist. And you tell him that, no matter how much it hurts:

“Besides, I’ve got a much bigger adventure ahead. It’s time I stop waiting for you and found a life of my own.”