This is something I wrote one evening while lounging in bed. It's a little sad, but I needed to write it. I revised it slightly after seeing "Planet of the Dead" and now it is presented to you, my readers. Before you read, however, I have a really, really important question. Okay, maybe it's not life or death, but I want you to answer it when you review. The question is this: "If you could see time, what would it look like?" Enjoy the story.

Time and Loss

The Doctor sat moodily on the park bench and watched the people go by. His dark eyes flickered from person to person, never staying with one individual too long. All of them were strangers, their faces unfamiliar, and yet he knew them all. Not who they were necessarily, but what time would make of them. Knowledge slicked through his mind like a flash of lightning, just little glimpses into their time stream. Curse of the Time Lords he had called it once, this knowing. Knowing who must die and who could live. Pompeii, he had said that. To Donna. He sighed. She was gone now. Her and Rose and so many others who had traveled with him. Gone because of him. His mind drifted. So many had died for him, because of him. Too many.

"That's the answer to your question, Davros," he thought. "How many have died in my name? Too many." That was why he had said no to Christina. He had wanted her to come, but was afraid that she would be lost with the others and that it would be his fault. There were the victories, of course, the times lives had been saved that might have otherwise been lost, but still . . . Even then, there was always someone. Someone like Astrid.

He looked at his reflection in the shop window across the street. A tall, thin man with ruffled hair, a rumpled suit, and a long coat stared back. He was the Doctor. Just the Doctor. The last of the Time Lords because he had killed the rest. His people and his home gone in fire. He felt the familiar ache of loneliness in his chest. Even the Master was gone now, his final victory in dying and leaving his nemesis broken and alone.

Tears stung the Doctor's eyes for a moment before he brushed them away. Slowly, he stood up and wandered back towards the TARDIS, sitting in an alleyway. He was the Doctor. The one, the only. "And the best," the echo in his memory finished. He smiled briefly, remembering Jackson and his son. He had saved them. Others had died, but he had saved them.

The TARDIS doors opened when he snapped his fingers. For a moment, he stood, looking inside at the ship that had been his only constant companion in nine hundred odd years. Everyone else had faded away. Straightening his shoulders, he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He was the Doctor. The universe was calling and he had to bury his sorrow, wipe away his tears and answer.

The End

Sad, I know. Sorry about that. Please review and please answer my question which was, for those of you too lazy to scroll back up and refresh your memories, "If you could see time, what would it look like?" Do not say "I don't know" because that answer is unhelpful and unexceptable. I want to hear your answers because a) I am curious and b) I am doing research for an original story I am thinking of writing about a man who can see time. Yeah. So review and answer:) Thanks so much for reading.